Azerbaijan threatens to use military force on Armenia

[kaya'08]

Azeri President Ilham Aliyev has warned he is ready to use force to wrest control of a disputed enclave from Armenia if last-ditch peace talks fail.

He said talks starting on Sunday in Munich were the final hope of settling the Nagorno Karabakh issue peacefully.

A fragile ceasefire has been in place in the region since it was the scene of a brutal war between the two countries in the 1990s.

Both nations lay claim to the enclave, currently under Armenian control.

In comments broadcast on Azeri TV on Saturday, President Aliyev said that if the Munich talks failed to reach agreement he would be "left with no other option".

"We have the full right to liberate our land by military means," he said.

Western diplomats attending the talks, the latest in a round of internationally mediated meetings on the dispute, have said they hope the situation will not reach that point.

Some 30,000 people died in the Nagorno Karabakh conflict, which erupted after the mountainous region declared independence in 1991.

The region and seven surrounding Azeri district have been under Armenian control since the Russian-brokered ceasefire in 1994.

Azerbaijan has never ruled out military action to take back the land and has spent billions on dollars on building up its military.

The BBC's Tom Esslemont, in the South Caucuses region, says Mr Aliyev is using stronger language than ever before because the talks come at a critical time.

The meeting will be the first since Armenia and Turkey - an ally of Azerbaijan - normalised diplomatic relations after a century of hostility.

That move has left Azerbaijan feeling isolated, says our correspondent.

BBC News - Azerbaijan threatens Armenia over Nagorno Karabakh

 

[kaya'08]

This is such a bad, bad development. :shock::shock:

 

[Partisan]

This is such a bad, bad development. :shock::shock:

What's the big deal?....
Let them fight it out & get it over with...
i would think this would please the Turks.....
The sooner, the better so the U.S. or U.N. doesn't need to get involved....

 

[kaya'08]

What's the big deal?....
Let them fight it out & get it over with...
i would think this would please the Turks.....
The sooner, the better so the U.S. or U.N. doesn't need to get involved....

It wouldnt please the Turks, the total complete opposite.
Turkey and Armenia just finished drafting a bill to open the Armenian/Turkish boarder and establish diplomatic ties and trade.
If they fight but Turkey keeps the boarders open and ratifies the bill in parliament to do so, then the Azeri's will see it as a move against them by the "ally" Turkey, and cut off oil supplies to the Turks.
If the Turks stop the bill from passing and decide not to open the boarders in a sign of support to the Azeri's like all those years ago when the Ngorno Karabahk conflict began, then it would have backtracked on one of the biggest stability measurements and politically postive moves in the region for decades and it would hurt greately their image abroad, especially in the EU where it is a candidate member and in the US, a close NATO ally, and in Armenia and likely never get a chance to open the boarders and end the hostility for another decade.

 

[Mira]

This is indeed an awful development

There is more than one question that is not settled between Turkey and Armenia. Beside the question of Karabagh, the issue of the genocide remains pending as well.

Turkey said the Genocide files will be re-examined. I hope that a peaceful solution will be found for both claims.

 

[kaya'08]

This is indeed an awful development

There is more than one question that is not settled between Turkey and Armenia. Beside the question of Karabagh, the issue of the genocide remains pending as well.

Turkey said the Genocide files will be re-examined. I hope that a peaceful solution will be found for both claims.

I hear that Armenia and Turkey will establish an independant Armenian-Turkish institution that will study the historical facts of 1915 and present the findings frequently to both leaders. This is part of the bill.

 

[Mira]

I hear that Armenia and Turkey will establish an independant Armenian-Turkish institution that will study the historical facts of 1915 and present the findings frequently to both leaders. This is part of the bill.

yes, that's what I meant. I hope that the Karabagh issue will be solved by peaceful means as well.