Azerbaijan will never agree to Nagorno-Karabakh separation – President Aliyev

Interfax, Russia
July 31, 2006

BAKU. July 31 (Interfax) – Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity cannot
be a subject for negotiations, and Azerbaijan will never agree to
Nagorno-Karabakh’s separation, President Ilham Aliyev has said.

"Azerbaijan will never agree to the separation of Nagorno-Karabakh
-either today or tomorrow. And it will never agree to terms allowing
for the separation of Nagorno-Karabakh in the future," Aliyev said
at a conference dealing with Azerbaijan’s socioeconomic development
in the first half of 2006.

"Therefore, the negotiating process is a positive approach," he said.

The improvement of the national army’s material basis is among the
priorities facing Azerbaijan, Aliyev said.