“Our number one problem is the Nagorno Karabakh conflict. Unfortunately, there is no progress in this field at all. Talks are going on but without any result”, President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev said. Against all the odds, he continued, Azerbaijan tries to use capabilities of talks in full. “Now we don’t hope for international regulation mechanisms. We cannot get along with this situation. We will never get along with loss of our grounds. We will never let Nagorno Karabakh apart from Azerbaijan and this is not the subject of talks,” Aliyev said.
“We highly appraise the efforts and decisions of international organizations in settling the Nagorno Karabakh conflict. We highly appraise the work of the OSCE Minsk Group. They really do their best to settle the problem. How long we will take part in talks? How long shall we wait? Our patience is not boundless,” Aliyev added.
“Azerbaijan today faces no problems but Karabakh. Therefore, all necessary funds shall be allotted to form the army”, Aliyev said. “Azerbaijan lives in the state of war and army formation should be the matter of great importance. Even today, army is paid big attention to. We work in all directions on strengthening the army. It is necessary to allot funds from the state budget to raise the army and we do this. During the recent three years our military expenses rose 4 times. They totaled in $135mln in 2003, while in 2006 this amount equals to $700mln. And our plans include raising this amount”, Ilham Aliyev said.
