Baku rules out co-op with Armenia until lands liberated

Head of the Azerbaijan delegation attending the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly session in Strasbourg on September 28 MP Ilham Aliyev has been interviewed by an Armenian journalist Armen Zargarian.

When asked why Azerbaijan aspires to have the Garabagh problem discussed in the PA CE, Mr. Aliyev said the more the issue becomes a talking point at various levels, the sooner the international community will understand the fairness of Azerbaijan's position. He said Armenia is reluctant to discuss the matter because it is doing its best to conceal the essence of the dispute and cover up the fact of occupation of Azeri lands, aggression against the people of Azerbaijan, deprivation of more than a million of Azeris of their homes. What Armenia does want to focus on now is cooperation, but it has to be understood that any cooperation is out of the question until Azeri territories are freed from occupation.

With regard to the mutual accusations of terrorism being made by Azeri and Armenian delegations, Mr. Aliyev said Azerbaijan has a long list of crimes perpetrated by Armenian terrorist organizations in Azerbaijan.

Among the 32 terrorist acts committed to this end are explosions in the underground, trains, buses, ferryboats, which have claimed a total of 2,000 lives. But all Armenia claims to have is a sterile allegation that Bin Laden has allegedly called someone in Azerbaijan 60 times.

Mr. Aliyev added that the territory of the Upper Garabagh is now out of anyone's control. Since it has not been recognized as an independent country, not a single international monitoring has been conducted there and the agreement on conventional arms in Europe has no effect. As a result, the number of tanks and weaponry in Upper Garabagh is much bigger than Azerbaijan and Armenia put together have.

Mr. Aliyev emphasized that Armenia has captured 7 Azeri provinces that had never before been populated by Armenians and is now talking to Azerbaijan from the position of force. "But the world has changed dramatically, and it is no longer possible to exercise such approaches", he said.

The Azeri MP went on to say that although Azerbaijan has suffered heavy human loss, destruction and its people have had to live in unbearable conditions for years, its economic prospects are much brighter than those of Armenia. Armenia is now in complete isolation from regional projects. For example, although it would be more cost efficient to lay export oil and gas pipelines through its territory, this infrastructure is going to bypass Armenia.

In conclusion Mr. Aliyev said, "Azerbaijan wants to resolve the Garabagh problem in peace and this was our commitment at the time of acceptance to the Council of Europe. But you have to understand that this status quo cannot last forever". He then stated that under no circumstances would Azerbaijan agree to a settlement that might hurt its territorial integrity.

Masterminding terror

Commenting on Armenian-fuelled allegations that the country's secret service had intercepted Osama Bin Laden's telephone calls to Azerbaijan, MP Ilham Aliyev told Georgian media journalists at the Council of Europe parliamentary assembly session in Strasbourg that it is highly unlikely that Armenians have any information on Bin Laden's whereabouts and the phone calls he has been making.

This is another libel attempt, a part of Armenia's overall policy of aggression against Azerbaijan pursued for 13 years now, he said. Armenian terrorist organization ASALA and other terrorist groups have perpetrated 32 terror attacks in Azerbaijan that claimed the lives of 2,000 Azeris. This is all part of Armenia's state policy envisioning the occupation of Azeri lands and ruthless extermination of children and women. Azerbaijan is a victim of terror, while Armenia is its organizer, Mr. Aliyev said.

Mr. Aliyev said if Armenia is aware of Bin Laden's whereabouts and his phone calls, it means Armenia itself stays in touch with him.