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Azerbaijan Raises 2005 Defense Spending: Aliyev

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  • Azerbaijan Raises 2005 Defense Spending: Aliyev

    Azerbaijan Raises 2005 Defense Spending: Aliyev
    By AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE, BAKU

    Agence France Presse
    Dec 8 2004

    Azerbaijan's defense spending will increase by 30 percent next year
    and may eventually grow by 200 percent, Azeri President Ilham Aliyev
    said late Dec. 7, linking the hike to his country's conflict with
    neighboring Armenia.

    "Next year, defense spending will be increased to $250 million (186
    million euros), which is 30 percent more than in 2004," Aliyev told
    a cabinet meeting.

    "And in the future, we will continue to increase defense spending. As
    long as our land is occupied," he added, in a reference to the disputed
    territory of Nagorno-Karabakh, which is now under Armenian control.

    "It will be (raised) by 50 percent, by 100 percent, by 200 percent,
    and more," Aliyev said.

    Armenian and Azeri forces have been locked in a tense stand-off
    since fighting a war in the early 1990s over the disputed territory
    of Nagorno-Karabakh.

    The two sides are observing a ceasefire, but cross-border shootouts
    are a frequent occurrence.

    Armenian troops last month shot dead an Azeri army officer along the
    volatile border that separates the two warring former Soviet republics,
    bringing the Azeri death toll to close to a dozen soldiers since the
    start of the year.

    Years of negotiations backed by the so-called Minsk group — chaired by
    France, Russia and the United States and mandated by the Organization
    for Security and Cooperation in Europe — have failed to resolve
    the conflict, and today no transport or communication lines link
    the neighbors.

    --Boundary_(ID_F3lRXgk1xcHqbsVNFKDlmw)--
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