AZERBAIJAN CURRENTLY HAS NO PLANS TO JOIN NATO – AZERI DEFENSE MINISTER
Russia & CIS Military Newswire
November 27, 2007 Tuesday 11:50 AM MSK
Azerbaijan currently has no plans to join NATO, Azeri Defense Minister
Safar Abiyev said.
"As defense minister I state that that our cooperation with NATO has
continued. The issue that Azerbaijan wants to enter NATO or will enter
the alliance is not on the agenda," Abiyev told a news conference after
a meeting of the Council of CIS Defense Ministers in Astana on Tuesday.
Speaking about the Armenian-Azeri relations, the minister said that
"as long as the Azeri territory is occupied by Armenia, a war will
erupt with almost 100% probability."
Meanwhile, Armenian Prime Minister Mikael Arutyunian said that the
statement by the Azeri defense minister is too "categorical" and said
that Armenia sees no alternative to the peaceful resolution of the
Nagorno-Karabakh issue.
"When the two [Armenian and Azeri] presidents hold talks on
peaceful resolution of the Karabakh problem, such statements are too
categorical. This is not the right of the defense minister, because
commanders in chief, presidents of our countries are in talks on
the peaceful resolution of the issue," Arutyunian said commenting on
Abiyev’s statement.
"We see no alternative to the peaceful resolution of the problem,"
Arutyunian said.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
