Baku Today, Azerbaijan
June 9 2004

Ilham Aliyev: In No Way We Will Cede Karabakh

Baku Today 09/06/2004 11:09

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev on Tuesday reiterated his
government’s position not to cede sovereignty over Karabakh, warning
that he would resort to “other means” to liberate the territories
occupied by Armenia should peace talks yield no result.

“If the peace negotiations give no result, we will decide together with
our people on what to do [next],” the president said in Azerbaijan’s
central town of Yevlakh, which is some 300 kilometers west of
capital Baku.

President Aliyev visited Yevlakh to attend opening ceremony of a
new square and avenue named after his late father Heydar Aliyev,
who died last December at the age of 80.

“We are trying to resolve Nagorno-Karabakh problem peacefully within
norms of international laws. But we have to get ready to other means
of bringing the conflict to an end,” the President added.

Nagorno-Karabakh, a former autonomous region within Azerbaijan,
and also seven Azeri administrative districts — Lachin, Kelbajar,
Aghdam, Fuzuli, Jabrail, Zangilan and Gubadli — were captured by
Armenian troops in 1991-94 war with Azerbaijan.

The occupied territories make up almost 20 percent of Azerbaijan’s
total area and nearly 700,000 civilian Azeris were forced to leave
their homes as a result of the war.

Despite a shaky cease-fire agreement signed between Baku and Yerevan
in May 1994, no final settlement has been found to the conflict.