Azerbaijan To Double Military Budget
September 08, 2005
President Aliyev (file photo)
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Lenkaran, Azerbaijan; 8 September 2005 -- Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev today said his country will double military spending next year to $600 million.
Aliyev also warned Armenia that Azerbaijan is capable of retaking by force the disputed enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh, a
territory inside Azerbaijan that is currently controlled by Armenia.
He accused Armenia of maintaining an attitude that is making progress on the topic impossible. He said he hopes it
will be possible for a peaceful solution on the mainly ethnic-Armenian enclave.
In other developments, over 2,000 candidates have registered to compete for 125 seats in Azerbaijan's 6 November parliamentary elections.
The Council of Europe has called on the Azerbaijani government and opposition to ensure that the vote will be fair, saying the poll is an opportunity for the country to show it is a democratic nation.
(AFP/Interfax/ITAR-TASS)