AZERBAIJAN SHOWS OFF MILITARY MIGHT TO FOE ARMENIA
Afet Mehtiyeva
Reuters
June 26 2008
UK
BAKU, June 26 (Reuters) – Ex-Soviet Azerbaijan staged its first
military parade in 16 years on Thursday in a show of strength
aimed partly at Armenia, its neighbour with which it is locked in a
territorial dispute.
Armenian forces took control of the Nagorno-Karabakh region,
internationally recognised as part of Azerbaijan, in a war in the
1990s. Azerbaijan says it reserves the right to restore its control
by force if peace talks fail.
A resumption of hostilities could disrupt oil supplies from Azerbaijan,
which exports about 700,000 barrels of oil a day to world markets,
most of it via a pipeline operated by a BP-led (BP.L: Quote, Profile,
Research, Stock Buzz) international consortium.
Troops, multiple rocket launch systems, armoured personnel carriers,
tanks and unmanned reconnaissance planes were paraded in front of
the Soviet-built government headquarters in the capital Baku, watched
over by President Ilham Aliyev.
Attack helicopters, bombers and fighter jets later flew in formation
past the building on the shores of the Caspian Sea, in a parade that
lasted over an hour.
Much of the equipment on show was Soviet-designed but there was also
Western gear and troops were fitted out in NATO-style uniforms —
part of a modernisation of the armed forces funded with a ten-fold
rise in defence spending since 2003.
"The international community is worried by our policy in this area
and places the emphasis on this," Aliyev, who succeeded his father
as president in a 2003 election, said in a speech at the parade.
"But Azerbaijan continues to live in a state of war and is trying to
resolve the Karabakh issue," he said. "We are continuing negotiations
with Armenia, but they have been going on for a very long time and
the people are tired of them. They cannot go on for ever."
The war over Nagorno-Karabakh killed about 35,000 people and forced
over a million to leave their homes. Many of them are still living
as refugees.
The region, and several Azeri districts around it, are now run by
ethnic Armenian separatists with support from Armenia. No state
recognises Nagorno-Karabakh’s split from Azerbaijan.
Though a fragile ceasefire is in force, the two sides have never signed
a peace deal to formally end the war, and their armies are locked in
a tense stand-off. Soldiers are frequently killed in skirmishes.
Talks mediated by envoys from France, Russia and the United States
have failed to produce a peace agreement.
Aliyev said at the parade Azerbaijan’s annual defence spending was
now $2 billion. He said the increase was in line with an overall
growth in state spending in Azerbaijan, which has one of the world’s
fastest-growing economies.
Zardusht Alizade, a political analyst with ties to Azerbaijan’s
opposition, said the government’s threats to use force against Armenian
forces were not credible.
"The authorities have no intention of liberating Nagorno-Karabakh,"
he told Reuters. "If they had, their current internal and domestic
policies would be different."