International Herald Tribune, France
Jan 30 2007
Report: Azerbaijan president does not rule out use of force to seize
Nagorno-Karabakh
The Associated PressPublished: January 29, 2007
PARIS: Azerbaijan’s president said he prefers a peaceful solution to
a dispute with Armenia over the territory of Nagorno-Karabakh, but is
not ruling out military means, a French newspaper reported.
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 territory 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," Aliev, who met Monday with French President
Jacques Chirac, 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."
Chirac, in a speech to guests at a state dinner in Aliev’s honor,
made it clear that he favors a peaceful solution.
"France would like to believe that the time for peace has come," the
French leader said. "Getting there requires a final step."
Nagorno-Karabakh, a mountainous territory inside Azerbaijan but
populated largely by ethnic 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 was quoted as telling Le Monde that he was looking to deepen
bilateral economic ties between Azerbaijan and France.