Words About War and Peace on Karabakh Anniversary
Moscow Times
May 13 2004
BAKU, Azerbaijan — On the 10th anniversary of the truce that ended
fighting Azeri-Armenian fighting over Nagorny Karabakh but left its
status in limbo, Azerbaijan’s president on Wednesday pledged support
for peaceful resolution of the dispute but raised the prospect of
military action.
Nagorny Karabakh, an ethnic Armenian enclave within Azerbaijan,
for the past decade has been under control of an internationally
unrecognized ethnic Armenian government backed by forces who also
occupy parts of Azerbaijan adjoining the enclave.
Because of the dispute over the enclave’s final status, the
Armenia-Azerbaijan border is closed. Failure to resolve the issue is
seen as having discouraged investment in both countries because of
concern that another war over the enclave could erupt.
Armenian and Azeri officials, including the country’s presidents, have
met repeatedly to discuss Nagorny Karabakh, but with little visible
progress despite a wave of sessions in 2001 that many observers
believed foreshadowed an imminent settlement.
Azeri President Ilham Aliyev underlined that Azerbaijan insists
Nagorny Karabakh remain part of that country and that a resumption
of fighting could not be excluded.
“We are supporters of a peaceful resolution of the conflict, but the
Azeri people will not submit to the loss of its territory. If talks
do not give results, we will free our land at any cost,” Aliyev said.
“Our army is capable of freeing occupied territory at any moment.”
Armenian President Robert Kocharyan, in a statement marking the
cease-fire’s 10th anniversary, said, “We will observe the principle
of a peaceful regulation of the Nagorny Karabakh conflict.”
Aliyev made his statements in a speech at a military institute in
Nakhichevan, an Azeri exclave separated from the rest of the country
by Armenian territory. “Azerbaijan is in a condition of war, our
territorial wholeness is violated and the army can undertake steps
to restore the wholeness,” he said.