ITAR-TASS, Russia
Feb 16 2007

Azeri leader does not exclude war for Nagorno Karabakh

BERLIN, February 16 (Itar-Tass) — Azerbaijani President Ilkham
Aliyev said he would like to resolve the conflict with Armenia over
Nagorno Karabakh peacefully, but did not rule out a war for the
enclave.

`War is a catastrophe, but Azerbaijan is ready for any turn of
developments. We cannot wait forever,’ Aliyev said at a meeting with
German political, economic and public figures on Thursday.

He said Azerbaijan would never agree either to the independence of
Nagorno Karabakh or to its unification with Armenia.

`The territorial integrity of Azerbaijan has never and will never be
an issue of compromise,’ he said, adding the referendum in the
unrecognized republic, at which 98.58 of local residents voted for
independence, was unlawful.

Aliyev stressed Azerbaijan has been heavily arming itself of late to
protect its territorial integrity. This year it has a one-billion US
dollar military budget.

`It is more than the whole budget of Armenia and the figure will
grow,’ Aliyev said, adding his country was actively developing the
military-industrial complex, acquiring new weapons and hardware, and
promoting domestic arms production.

The president of Azerbaijan said his foreign policy priority was
`integration into the North Atlantic space’ and partnership with
NATO.

Besides, Azerbaijan wants to be a reliable energy supplier for Europe
and can daily ship a million barrels of oil via Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan
pipeline.

It also launched production at the major gas field Shakh-Deniz, and
the Baku-Tbilisi-Erzerum gas pipeline has been commissioned.

`The potential of Azerbaijan in the energy sphere is very high,’ the
president said.