AZERBAIJAN THREATENS END TO CEASE-FIRE
United Press International UPI
Feb 25 2010
BAKU, Azerbaijan, Feb. 25 (UPI) — Azerbaijan’s defense minister says
his country can’t wait another 15 years for diplomats to solve the
conflict with Armenia over Nagorny Karabakh.
Safar Abiyev has told the French ambassador the threat of military
action is becoming "more imminent," the Russian news agency RIA
Novosti reported Thursday.
"If occupying Armenia does not free our lands, a large conflict will
be inevitable in the South Caucasus," Abiyev said.
The United States, Russia and France have been trying to mediate the
territorial dispute between Azerbaijan and Armenia that has resulted
in the deaths of some 30,000 people.
Nagorny Karabakh, which declared independence in 1991, lies inside
Azerbaijan but has a population that is predominantly ethnic Armenian.
It has been under Armenian control since a Russian-brokered cease-fire
in 1994.