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Azerbaijan increases defence budget

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  • Azerbaijan increases defence budget

    ITAR-TASS, Russia
    June 25 2005

    Azerbaijan increases defence budget


    BAKU, June 25 (Itar-Tass) -- Azerbaijani President Ilkham Aliyev said
    his country has increased the defence budget because Russia is moving
    military hardware from its base in Georgia to Armenia.

    `It is true that this hardware is not handed over to Armenia but
    remains at the disposal of the Russian base. But still it will be
    transferred to Armenia, and this required us to take proper steps,
    which we did by increasing defence expenditures in the budget,' the
    president said on Saturday as he addressed the graduates of the
    Azerbaijani Higher Military School named after his father.

    Aliyev said the increase in defence capabilities is necessary in
    order to `resolve the Karabakh conflict'.

    `We will use all diplomatic and political methods, but the adversary
    must know that the Azerbaijani army can mobilise at any moment and
    liberate the occupied territories,' he said.

    `We will not step aside from our position even by an inch,' Aliyev
    said, adding, 'The biggest compromise Azerbaijan has made in the
    resolution of the Karabakh conflict is that the country remains
    committed to a peaceful settlement.'
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