AZERBAIJAN LEADER URGES AGGRESSIVE METHODS TO GET BACK ENCLAVE
Agence France Presse — English
October 2, 2006 Monday 4:00 PM GMT
Azerbaijan must use aggressive methods against its neighbour Armenia
in order to get back the Nagorny Karabakh enclave, President Ilham
Aliyev told parliament in its opening session Monday.
"Our policies must be aggressive. We must attack," Aliyev said,
adding that Azerbaijan could use economic and political pressure
to force Armenia to give up control of the ethnic-Armenian enclave
in Azerbaijan.
"We must step up an information and economic attack while strengthening
our military potential," Aliyev told legislators on their first day
of work.
Aliyev said that only if it was forced into doing so would Armenia
loosen its hold on Karabakh and seven surrounding Azerbaijani regions
it has controlled since a war in the early 1990s.
"We must increase pressure on Armenia. Otherwise they are not likely
to give back our territories. We must be ready for war," Aliyev said.
"Maybe when we are 100 times stronger than Armenia, war will not be
necessary," he said.
Azerbaijan, which is reaping the benefits of a sky-rocketing oil
boom, has steadily increased its defense expenditures over the last
few years.
Aliyev said increasing such spending was a top priority of his
administration.
His comments come ahead of the arrival here Tuesday of the heads
of the so-called Minsk Group, a tri-party committee mediating the
Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict.
Aliyev’s administration has criticized international mediators in
the conflict for not producing a settlement and has urged the United
Nations to discuss the conflict.
"We’re not saying no to this format," Aliyev said of the Minsk group,
"but we think other international organizations can give their input
to the peace process," he said.
Armenia has indicated that a departure from the Minsk group format
would signal a breakdown in peace talks and has opposed proposals to
take the issue to the UN.