International Herald Tribune, France
Jan 29 2007
Report: Azerbaijan president does not rule out use of force to seize
Nagorno-Karabakh
PARIS (AP) – Azerbaijan’s president said he prefers a peaceful
solution to a dispute with Armenia over the enclave of
Nagorno-Karabakh, but is not ruling out military means, a French
newspaper reported Monday.
President Ilham Aliev, in an interview in Le Monde daily before
arriving in France for a three-day visit, was quoted as saying the
disputed enclave is "issue No. 1" for his oil-rich Caucasus Mountains
country, which is growing bolder as its economic strength grows.
"It’s clear that our political weight will give us one day the means
to liberate our lands," he was quoted as saying. "We’d prefer to do
it peacefully, without going to war. But if there are no other means
… we’ll see."
Nagorno-Karabakh, a mountainous territory inside Azerbaijan but
populated by Armenians, has been controlled by ethnic Armenian forces
since the end of a six-year war in 1994. Tensions remain high between
Armenia and Azerbaijan.
Diplomats from Russia, France and the United States have headed more
than a decade of efforts by the so-called Minsk Group – part of the
Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe – to resolve the
Nagorno-Karabakh issue.
In a statement Monday, the group said it was encouraged by what it
called the "constructive" approach of the leaders of Armenia and
Azerbaijan as they work toward resolving the Nagorno-Karabakh
conflict.
Azerbaijan has been building up its military with an influx of
revenues from oil. It controls portions of the Caspian Sea, on its
eastern fringe, which has some of the largest oil and gas fields in
the former Soviet Union.
Aliev, who was to meet Monday with French President Jacques Chirac,
was quoted as telling Le Monde that he was looking to deepen
bilateral economic ties between Azerbaijan and France.