Azerbaijan Says It’s Ready to Take Back Karabakh by Force

   (Bloomberg) --- Azerbaijan is preparing to use force to regain control of territory it lost to Armenians more than two decades ago after international efforts to find a peaceful solution failed to bring results, its defense minister said.

   “The time has come,” Azeri Defense Minister Zakir Hasanov said while visiting troops near the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict zone, according to a statement on the ministry website on Thursday. “Our people have run out of patience and demand that we take action to drive the enemy out of our lands.”

   Fighting would threaten the energy industry of the ex-Soviet Union’s third-biggest oil producer, where BP Plc and its partners have invested more than $50 billion since 1994. While Nagorno-Karabakh is more than 350 kilometers (220 miles) from Baku -- and even further from projects such as Shah Deniz that dot the Caspian Sea -- military activity may harm infrastructure. The BP-led Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline runs through land less than 50 kilometers from the cease-fire line.

   Azeri President Ilham Aliyev accused Armenia last month of boycotting talks to prolong the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, frozen since Armenians took over the region during a war in 1994. He said the negotiations mediated by Russia, the U.S. and France hadn’t brought results. Armenia’s government has also accused Azerbaijan of a destructive approach in talks.

Deadly Clashes

   Azerbaijan has repeatedly warned it will use force to regain control if peace talks fail. Armenians took over the predominantly ethnic-Armenian region and seven adjacent districts from Azerbaijan after the Soviet breakup in 1991. More than 30,000 people died in the war and 1.2 million fled their homes before Russia brokered a cease-fire in 1994.

   Deadly clashes resumed between Azeri and Armenian forces last month after several weeks of relative calm accompanied the first European Games held in the Azeri capital in June.

   Both sides have accused the other of violating the cease-fire, and the Azeri Defense Ministry said Armenia breached it more than 100 times in each of the past two days, according to a statement on the ministry’s website on Thursday. Azerbaijan said in July that one of its soldiers died in skirmishes on the Armenian border. It also announced that five Armenian troops were killed, a claim Armenia denied.

   Hasanov said Azerbaijan has the right under international law to use force to take back Nagorno-Karabakh, pointing to United Nations Security Council resolutions calling for Armenian withdrawal. He said the Azeri army will push Armenian forces out of what is internationally recognized as being part of Azerbaijan.

   “No one should doubt that,” he said.