Date: Fri, 13 Feb 2009 14:34:20 -0800 (PST)
Subject: BAKU: Ilham Aliyev: "7 Regions Must Be Liberated First And Status Of Nagorno Karabakh Should Determined In The Next Phase"
ILHAM ALIYEV: "7 REGIONS MUST BE LIBERATED FIRST AND STATUS OF NAGORNO KARABAKH SHOULD BE DETERMINED IN THE NEXT PHASE"
APA
Feb 13 2009
Azerbaijan
Baku-APA. "The most budget-funded sphere is the defense field in
Azerbaijan and this policy will be continued until solution to the
Nagorno Karabakh conflict", said President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev
in his interview with Russian ITAR-TASS agency, APA reports.
He said there was never a defense-industry complex in Azerbaijan and
this sphere was created in recent years. "Today Azerbaijani Army is
a structure, which is able to fulfill any duty, first of all the
duty of liberation of the occupied territories. If Azerbaijan had
this potential after the collapse of USSR, our lands would not be
occupied". Ilham Aliyev said the negotiations process did not play out
and there was still a hope for peaceful solution to the conflict. "The
conflict should be resolved phase by phase. In the first phase,
7 regions around Nagorno Karabakh must be liberated. The status of
Nagorno Karabakh should be determined in the next phase. This status
should be determined within the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan
and with consideration of the highest autonomy of Nagorno Karabakh
that was never mono-ethnic as it is today. We think that current
format of the negotiations reflect these approaches. There is a new
leadership in Armenia now and there is a hope for more constructive
approach by Yerevan to this issue".