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BAKU: Azeri defense chief warns of looming war threat

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  • BAKU: Azeri defense chief warns of looming war threat

    AzerNews Weekly, Azerbaijan
    Feb 26 2010


    Azeri defense chief warns of looming war threat


    26-02-2010 05:50:23
    Azerbaijani Defense Minister Safar Abiyev has warned that the South
    Caucasus region would face an imminent threat of an all-out war unless
    Armenia, which occupies part of its neighbor's territory, ends its
    long-standing invasion.
    `If invader Armenia fails to free Azerbaijani land, the eruption of a
    big war in the South Caucasus will be inevitable,' Abiyev said while
    hosting French Ambassador in Baku, Gabriel Keller, on Thursday,
    according to the Defense Ministry.
    The minister noted that international negotiators have not been able
    to accomplish any result in settling the Upper (Nagorno) Garabagh
    conflict for fifteen years.
    `Azerbaijan can't wait for fifteen more years. Now, the military has a
    say, and this threat is increasingly approaching,' the defense chief
    warned.
    Abiyev's statement has caused some concern in Armenia, says a
    statement issued by the Azerbaijan Defense Ministry spokesman Eldar
    Sabiroghlu. It said that a number of news agencies have lately
    reported the past developments, on orders of the country's leadership,
    reminding of Azerbaijan's losses incurred in 1992-94, `as if they were
    trying to bring to the forefront their `courage'..., though the
    Azerbaijani side has repeatedly explained which reasons this situation
    stemmed from.'
    `International entities have confirmed this time and time again.
    Otherwise, Armenia would not have dared to take a single step forward
    during the first Upper Garabagh war. They were not supported only in
    perpetrating the Khojaly tragedy [the massacre committed against
    Azeris in 1992] but all [of their] military operations were carried
    out with direct involvement and close assistance of the known force,'
    Sabiroghlu said, implying Russian military assistance to Armenia.
    The ministry spokesman added that Armenia still rests `in the shadow
    of that force' today.
    Azerbaijan and Armenia fought a lengthy war that ended with the
    signing of a cease-fire in 1994, but Armenia continues to occupy Upper
    Garabagh and seven other Azerbaijani districts in defiance of
    international law. The United States, Russia and France are mediating
    peace talks through a team of OSCE diplomats called the Minsk Group.*
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