President Ilham Aliyev has said Azerbaijan is running out of patience with the ongoing occupation of its territory by Armenia as talks mediated by three world powers in the past 20 years have produced no result.
“We are still committed to peace talks, yet I want to reiterate that we are running out of patience,” Aliyev told a group of servicemen after large-scale military drills near Baku on June 26. “The Azerbaijani flag must and will be hoisted in all of the occupied towns, including Shusha and Xankandi.”
Armenia captured nearly one-fifth of Azerbaijan's internationally-recognized territory, including Nagorno-Karabakh and seven surrounding districts, in a war in the early 1990s.
Large-scale hostilities ended with a ceasefire in 1994 but no peace agreement has been signed.
Aliyev has repeatedly said Azerbaijan reserves the right to use military force to regain control of its internationally-recognized territory should peace talks mediated by Russia, the US and France fail.
The June 26 drills involved 4,000 servicemen from the Army, the Interior Ministry and the State Border Service, as well as 80 tanks, 100 armored vehicles, 80 artillery systems, 10 fighter jets and 20 helicopters, the Ministry of Defense said on its website.
The drills coincided with the country’s Armed Forces Day.
Bakudaily.az
