AZERBAIJAN SEES RISK OF ‘GREAT WAR’ WITH ARMENIA II

Agence France Presse
Feb 25 2010

Azerbaijan warned Thursday that the threat of conflict with Armenia
is rising fast and that a "great war" is inevitable if Armenian forces
fail to pull out of disputed Nagorny Karabakh.

"For 15 years diplomacy has not achieved any concrete results and
Azerbaijan cannot wait another 15 years," Defence Minister Safar
Abiyev said.

"Now it’s the military’s turn and the threat is growing every day," a
defence ministry statement quoted him as telling the French ambassador
to Baku, Gabriel Keller.

"If Armenia does not end its occupation of Azerbaijan’s territory,
the beginning of a great war in the South Caucasus is inevitable."

Abiyev’s statement was one of the most threatening to emerge from
Baku as tensions with Yerevan have grown in recent months.

Tensions over Karabakh have risen amid efforts by Armenia and Turkey,
a close ally of Azerbaijan, to establish diplomatic ties and reopen
their border after decades of hostility.

Azerbaijan fears the efforts will lead Ankara to soften its
longstanding support for Baku in the dispute.

Backed by Yerevan, ethnic Armenian forces seized control of Nagorny
Karabakh and seven surrounding districts from Azerbaijan in the early
1990s, in a war that claimed an estimated 30,000 lives.

The two former Soviet republics have cut direct economic and transport
links and failed to negotiate a settlement on the region’s status.

Armenian and Azerbaijani forces are spread across a ceasefire line in
and around Nagorny Karabakh, often facing each other at close range,
and shootings are common.

Last week three Azerbaijani soldiers were killed in fighting with
Armenian forces in a tense area on the border with Karabakh.

France, along with Russia and the United States, is among the co-chairs
of the so-called Minsk Group, which is trying to negotiate a resolution
to the longstanding conflict.