Visit our website: HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK --------------------------------------------- ...Azerbaijan has been rebuilding its armed forces, helped by its traditional ally and NATO member Turkey, with which it has a bilateral military cooperation pact. Prepare for War With Armenia, Azeri President Tells Army BAKU, Aug 27, 2001 -- (Agence France Presse) Azerbaijan's President Heydar Aliyev on Saturday told the country's armed forces to be ready at any moment to go to war with neighboring Armenia to win back the disputed territory of Nagorno-Karabakh. Aliyev said Azerbaijan had not abandoned hope of getting back the enclave, occupied by ethnic Armenians during a bitter war at the start of the 1990s, through peace talks. But he told new army officers at a graduation ceremony near the Azeri capital, Baku: "The Azeri army should know that territorial integrity should be restored by any means and that is the job of the Azeri army. You with every breath should know that you should be ready for that." "Azerbaijan is a peaceful state and does not intend to have a war with anyone. But at the same time to ensure peace it must have a strong army, since the only way to crack down on a violation of peace is through war." Negotiations to find a permanent settlement over Nagorno-Karabakh have been stalled since April this year, and Azeri officials have been making increasingly war-like statements. Defense Minister Safar Abbiyev also warned that fighting could break out again, complaining that Armenia was keeping huge quantities of Russian-made weapons in Karabakh in violation of international arms control treaties. "Now Armenia has become an arms dump. That increases tension in the region and increases the danger of conflict starting up again," said Abbiyev. Azerbaijan, a former Soviet republic at the southern end of the Caucasus mountains, was routed in the war with Armenia over Karabakh, which lasted from 1989 until a ceasefire was agreed in 1994. But since then Azerbaijan has been rebuilding its armed forces, helped by its traditional ally and NATO-member Turkey, with which it has a bilateral military cooperation pact. ((c) 2001 Agence France Presse) __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Make international calls for as low as $.04/minute with Yahoo! Messenger http://phonecard.yahoo.com/ ------------------------------------------------- This Discussion List is the follow-up for the old stopnato @listbot.com that has been shut down ==^================================================================ EASY UNSUBSCRIBE click here: http://topica.com/u/?a84x2u.a9spWA Or send an email To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] This email was sent to: archive@jab.org T O P I C A -- Register now to manage your mail! http://www.topica.com/partner/tag02/register ==^================================================================
