From: Sebouh Z Tashjian <sebouhz_tashjian@yahoo.com.au>
Subject: Azerbaijan should hurry to strengthen military potential in Caspian

PanARMENIAN.Net

Azerbaijan should hurry to strengthen military potential in Caspian Sea
14.06.2008 15:20 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Azerbaijan should accelerate the process of
strengthening military potential in the Caspian Sea to ensure its
security, experts say.

-Due to support from abroad, Azerbaijan, together with other Caspian
countries – Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan – may strengthen its military
potential in Caspian to strengthen its water borders,- independent
military expert Alekper Mammadov said.

-Strengthening military capacity in the Caspian should be one of the
key tasks of Azerbaijan, a country which chose the priority of
integration to West and NATO. In Caspian, rich oil resources belong to
Azerbaijan and the country needs to have a strong military fleet to
ensure their security,- Mammadov said.

Azerbaijan has one of the naval forces in the Caspian, amongst former
Soviet countries. In order to strengthen them, Azerbaijan needs to
more actively co-operate with NATO and other members of the Alliance,
according to Azeri military expert Uzeir Jafarov.

-The assistance that the U.S. currently renders Azerbaijan to
strengthen the military-marine forces is a good support to the
country. Azerbaijan should not be satisfied with it, but should expand
its co-operation, not fearing from any reaction of Russia and Iran,
who protest against militarization of the Caspian,- Jafarov said.

In this regard, Azerbaijan may use assistance of Kazakhstan, which has
already commenced strengthening the military forces in its section of
Caspian with the help of the United States, the expert said.

The U.S. is willing to participate in construction of battle boats and
infrastructure for Kazakh fleet, said Vice Admiral Kevin J. Cosgriff,
Commander of the U.S. Naval Forces Central Command, Trend Azeri news
agency reports.