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Azerbaijani President outlines three new elements of settlement of Nagorno Karabakh conflict

27 November 2008 09:41 (UTC +04:00)

The Declaration covers the positions of the countries on the settlement of the conflict,â€ Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said in his interview to Italian Rai International TV channel, APA reports. The head of state underlined three significant elements of the declaration.
â€œFirst of all this document was signed by Azerbaijan and Armenia, not with Nagorno Karabakh. It shows Armenian leadership understands that the conflicting parties are Armenia and Azerbaijan. Before it was not so. They tried to persuade all that the war is between Nagorno Karabakh and Azerbaijan. This is the question. It is very important. Armenian leader himself signed the document showing the conflicting parties. Secondly, the Declaration says that the conflict should be solved basing on the international legal norms and principles and the decisions and resolutions adopted within the framework of these principles. It means that the decisions and resolutions adopted by the UN Security Council demanding the unconditional withdrawal of Armenian armed forces from the occupied Azerbaijani territories should be respected. The third element is that each stage in the settlement of the conflict should be accompanied by the international guarantee. It means that the conflict should be solved stage-by-stage. It has always been our position, Armeniaâ€™s position is to solve the conflict in package,â€ the president said.

Ilham Aliyev noted that the three elements were new in the process of negotiations:
â€œI am glad that Armenian leader mustered courage to sign these principles, this Declaration. If Armenia obeys these principles, the conflict can be solved easily,â€ he said.

The head of state said international community recognized the fact of occupation of Azerbaijanâ€™s territory by Armenia. He explained other points related to the Moscow Declaration. â€œNobody can find obligation in the Declaration making Azerbaijan to avoid the military way. â€œWe consider that there should be a political way of solutionâ€, said in the Declaration, but it doesnâ€™t mean that we abandon our fundamental rights. Every country has a right to defend itself according to the international norms. Azerbaijan is a victim of Armeniaâ€™s aggression. As a result of this aggression not only Nagorno Karabakh, but 7 other regions around it never populated by Armenians were occupied by Armenia. Our people suffer from it. We should hope for the political solution, but at the same time we should be ready to take any measure, not exception the military way. It will never be exception for restoration of our territorial integrity. We significantly strengthened our forces. Azerbaijan increased its military potential, economic development and political power for several times over the past five years. But our commitment to the negotiations over the two decades shows that our goal is to find the peaceful solutionâ€.

The president noted that no one desired war in the Caucasus, but at the same time Azerbaijan couldnâ€™t come to terms with this situation. â€œWe canâ€™t come to terms with the fact that Armenia is violating fundamental rights of our people over the two decades and nothing happens. The international community doesnâ€™t play necessary role in the solution to the issue. We hope that the issue will attract much attention after the last developments in the Caucasus, where peace is so sensitive. There are no peacekeepers on our line of contact. There are only Armenian and Azerbaijani armies. Therefore peace is so sensitive. We have to find soonest solution to the issue for peace in the Caucasusâ€.

Responding the question about spending of oil incomes to the strengthening of armed forces, the head of state said he didnâ€™t agree with the reports about spending of most part of the incomes for this goal. â€œWe donâ€™t spend the oil incomes only for purchase of arms. We are purchasing the arms, but at the same time we are building schools, hospitals, roads, power stations and developing our country. If you view military expenses of Azerbaijan and Armenia within GDP, you can see that Armenia spends more resources to this field. The fact is that our GDP is higher for 6-7 times than Armenian. Therefore our military expenses amounted to Armeniaâ€™s whole budget. They should realize that there is no balance between us and it will not be further. They should understand the reality that Azerbaijan is developing and strong country. They have to take it into consideration to ensure welfare of their peopleâ€.