Prelude
In a sign of disapproval after the 2008 Kosovo declaration of independence, Azerbaijan's parliament voted to withdraw a 33-strong Azeri peacekeeping team that has been serving there under NATO command since 1999, as a part of Turkish peacekeeping mission. Speaking on March 4, Azerbaijan's president Ilham Aliyev said that Kosovo's independence is "emboldening Armenian separatists in Nagorno-Karabakh", and that his country was ready to take it back by force. Prior to the skirmishes, Ilham Aliyev had insisted on numerous occasions that his country was ready to re-take the region by force, and had been buying the military hardware and ammunition to do so. Aliyev nevertheless expressed hope that Azerbaijan's growing military could nudge talks towards a diplomatic breakthrough: "A time will come when the Armenians will agree to that (settlement)," he said.
Read more about this topic: 2008 Mardakert Skirmishes
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