YEREVAN. April 8 (Interfax-AVN) - Armenia's expenditures on defense in 2005 will be on the same level as those of Azerbaijan, Armenian Defense Minister Serzh Sarkisian said at a meeting with Armenian writers visiting an Armenian military regiment on Friday.
"In 2005, we will not fall behind Azerbaijan by a single cent in defense expenditures. How and where we will find these funds is another question," Sarkisian said.
He said that Azerbaijan's hopes to resolve the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict by increasing its military budget will not be fulfilled.
Talking about the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, Sarkisian said the fact that Armenia declared it is ready to find a compromise decision is not a demonstration of weakness. "Bragging and saying the conflict should be resolved without any concessions on Armenia's part is the easiest thing to do. Of course, this sounds good," Sarkisian said.
At the same time, he said, the people of Armenia have to define their aims. "We have to decide what we want, whether we want a new war, whether there have been enough victims and whether we can be satisfied by a constant long war," Sarkisian said. "A long war is one of our options, and if the people of Armenia make such a decision, the Armenian defense minister will act in accordance with the opinion and the decision of the people," Sarkisian said.