Azerbaijan’s Aliev says no room for compromise on Nagorno-Karabakh

Associated Press Worldstream
March 12, 2005 Saturday 1:20 PM Eastern Time

BAKU, Azerbaijan — President Ilham Aliev emphasized Saturday
that Azerbaijan is not ready for any compromise with Armenia over
Nagorno-Karabakh, saying that land held by ethnic Armenian forces is
occupied Azerbaijani territory and cannot be the subject of bargaining.

Aliev said Azerbaijan will not change its position on the enclave,
which has been in ethnic Armenian hands since a 1994 cease-fire ended
a six-year war that killed some 30,000 people and drove a million
from their homes.

“There can be no talk of mutual compromises. That was a mistaken
thesis,” Aliev told journalists, apparently referring to statements
by international mediators who have said compromise is necessary to
settle the dispute between Armenia and Azerbaijan.

Azerbaijani officials fear that a settlement plan could call on
their country to cede territory. In addition to Nagorno-Karabakh,
ethnic Armenian forces hold a swath of Azerbaijani territory outside
the enclave.

Aliev said Azerbaijan is not willing to cede territory he called
occupied. “The only thing we can do” is discuss security guarantees
for ethnic Armenians who would be allowed to live in Nagorno-Karabakh
if it were placed under Azerbaijani control, he said.

No settlement has been reached over Nagorno-Karabakh and
tension remains high, keeping the threat of a new war alive.
Nagorno-Karabakh’s ethnic Armenian government is not recognized
internationally.

Aliev said he would not oppose a new meeting with Armenian President
Robert Kocharian to discuss the dispute, but said that the countries’
foreign ministers would have to make progress toward a potential
solution before a meeting can be held. Progress is contingent on
Armenia taking a “constructive position,” he said.