Separatist Karabakh spokesman slams Azeri leader's remarks

A spokesman for the leader of Azerbaijan's separatist Nagorno-Karabakh (Nagornyy Karabakh) region has slammed the Azerbaijani president's statement that the country would eventually restore its territorial integrity, Armenian news.am website reported on 12 November.


Addressing troops at a military command centre in the front-line Fuzuli District on 12 November, President Ilham Aliyev praised Azerbaijan's high potential and strong army, adding that it would eventually restore its territorial integrity.


On the same day, in an interview with news.am, spokesperson for the separatist Karabakh leader, Davit Babayan, referred to the statement, saying that "the president, who publicly makes such statements, is drawing parallels with the situation in Germany late in 1930s. It is clear where it led and also for Germany. The Azerbaijani leadership does not have to forget this in the long run".


He added that "we will enhance combat readiness of our armed forces, will strengthen the borders and prevent any aggressive moves of the enemy in order not to make the military rhetoric come true".


Azerbaijan and Armenia are locked in a conflict over Azerbaijan's breakaway Nagorno-Karabakh region, which, along with seven surrounding districts, came under the control of ethnic Armenian troops in the early 1990s. Dozens of Azerbaijani and Armenian soldiers were killed in the April 2016 flare-up, which has been the worst escalation since the sides signed a cease-fire deal in 1994.

www.ann.az