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Azerbaijan Leader Urges Aggressive Methods To Get Back Enclave

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  • Azerbaijan Leader Urges Aggressive Methods To Get Back Enclave

    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.
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