Hurriyet, Turkey
April 2 2010
‘Azerbaijan may consider military intervention’
Friday, April 2, 2010
Azerbaijan might consider a military intervention to address its
Nagorno-Karabakh dispute with Armenia if peaceful means fail, a top
Azerbaijani official said Friday.
Ramiz Mehdiyev, the head of the Azerbaijani President’s Executive
Office, said Azerbaijan would prefer to solve the issue peacefully.
`However, we may bring other means, and a military intervention, to
the table in the future if necessary, and if these peaceful means
fail,’ Mehdiyev told newspaper editors in chief and television
journalists in Istanbul.
Azerbaijan is losing its patience, Mehdiyev said, calling on Russia,
an Armenian ally, to be more sincere in solving the problem. `The
United States was also supporting Armenia,’ he added. `If there had
been no one behind Armenia, it would have withdrawn from Upper
Karabakh.’
Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan in 1988.
The official said the signing of protocols between Turkey and Armenia
would not harm Turkish-Azerbaijani relations because the two are
sister countries. He said Azerbaijan and Turkey would discuss lifting
visa requirements and come to an agreement soon.
In 1992 and 1993, Armenia occupied Azerbaijani territories in
Nagorno-Karabakh. The two countries signed a ceasefire in 1994.
The co-chairs of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in
Europe’s Minsk Group ` Russia, France and the United States ` are
currently holding peace negotiations between Armenia and Azerbaijan.