Defense Minister Col.-Gen. Zakir Hasanov said the time has come for Azerbaijan to liberate Nagorno-Karabakh and the adjacent territory that has been under Armenian occupation for more than 20 years.
"The time has come,” Hasanov said, speaking at a Novruz party with soldiers near the cease-fire line. "We will quickly liberate our land.”
Hasanov said the Azerbaijani army is powerful enough to quickly degrade Armenian military capability.
"I can openly say that we’ll destroy 70 percent of the Armenian army at the very first strike,” he said, according to a statement on the ministry website.
The minister told the soldiers to seize every opportunity to kill Armenian soldiers occupying Azerbaijani territory.
"We need to ensure that the enemy doesn’t feel comfortable on our soil,” he said.
Armenia captured nearly one-fifth of Azerbaijan’s internationally-recognized territory, including Nagorno-Karabakh and seven surrounding districts, in a war after the Soviet breakup in 1991.
While major hostilities ended with a cease-fire in 1994, no peace agreement has been signed.
Armenia has yet to comply with four UN Security Council resolutions calling for immediate and unconditional withdrawal from the occupied territory.
Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan said in a March 21 interview with France 24 television channel that large-scale military operations with Azerbaijan can resume "at any time”.
"We are, and personally I am, afraid of war. But we are not afraid to fight,” he said.
ANN.Az
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