Azerbaijan Ready To Fight For Nagorno-Karabakh

12 May 2004 -- Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev marked the 10th anniversary of the end of fighting with Armenia over Nagorno-Karabakh by saying Azerbaijan was trying to settle the still-unresolved dispute by peaceful means, but if that failed, Azerbaijan was ready to go to war "at any moment" over the territory.

Aliyev said Azerbaijan needs to increase its military potential in order to "restore its territorial integrity."

More than 30,000 people were killed and 1 million were left homeless during five years of war over the territory. The 1994 cease-fire left ethnic Armenian forces in control of Nagorno-Karabakh, but Azerbaijan still wants control of the territory.

Internationally mediated talks have so far failed to convert the cease-fire into a permanent political settlement.

(AFP/AP/Interfax)