AZERBAIJANI PRESIDENT CRITICIZES ARMENIA FOR SIGNALING SUSPENSION OF TALKS ON DISPUTED TERRITORY

Associated Press Worldstream
December 21, 2006 Thursday 7:55 PM GMT

President Ilham Aliev criticized his Armenian counterpart Thursday
for saying that long-running talks aimed at resolving the status of
the Nagorno-Karabakh territory should be suspending during Armenia’s
parliamentary elections.

Robert Kocharian said last week that there would no "active
negotiations" with Azerbaijan over Nagorno-Karabakh in the run-up to
next spring’s parliamentary elections, saying he didn’t want to give
potential candidates any fodder for their campaigns.

"The Armenian authorities are making funny announcements that have a
provocative character," Aliev said. "They are searching for a pretext
to drag out the negotiations. All their announcements are false.

Nagorno-Karabakh will never be independent."

"I call on Armenia to stand on the correct path, the path of
constructivism not to use parliamentary elections as a pretext and
not to put itself in a difficult position," Aliev said.

The two countries are at loggerheads over the mountainous region
in Azerbaijan that has been under the control of Armenian and
ethnic-Armenian forces since a 1994 cease-fire. The six-year separatist
conflict killed about 30,000 people and drove about 1 million from
their homes, including many of the region’s ethnic Azeris.

The region’s final status remains unresolved and years of talks
under the auspices of international mediators have brought few
visible results

The Azerbaijani leader also again reiterated his country’s rapid,
oil- and gas-fueled economic growth, which the government has used to
increase military spending stoking worries about a possible renewal
of fighting.

"Resolute policies gives Azerbaijan its own fruits. The military
potential and political position of the country is strengthening.

They have to deal with Azerbaijan and they have to consult with us.

We will get a just resolution to the problem," he said.