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AZERI DEFENCE MINISTER SAYS NATO MEMBERSHIP NOT ON AGENDA YET
Interfax, Russia
Nov 27 2007
Astana, 27 November: Azerbaijan is not yet planning to join NATO,
Azerbaijani Defence Minister Safar Abiyev has said.
"I am stating as a defence minister that we are continuing cooperation
with NATO. Azerbaijan's striving for NATO membership or its plans to
enter NATO are not on the agenda yet," Abiyev told a news conference
on Tuesday [27 November] following a session of the council of defence
ministers of the CIS member states in Astana.
He also told journalists that "the possibility of war is almost 100
per cent as long as Azerbaijan's lands are under Armenian occupation".
For his part, Armenian Defence Minister Mikayel Harutyunyan described
his Azerbaijani counterpart's statement as "categorical" and said
that Armenia saw no alternative to a peaceful solution to the Karabakh
problem.
"It is too categorical to make such statements while the presidents
of the two countries (Armenia and Azerbaijan - Interfax-Kazakhstan)
are holding negotiations on a peaceful solution to the Karabakh
problem. And this is not within the remit of a defence minister since
our countries' presidents and commanders-in-chief are negotiating a
peaceful solution to the problem," he told reporters, commenting on
the Azerbaijani defence minister's remarks.
"We see no alternative to a peaceful solution," Harutyunyan stressed.
Interfax, Russia
Nov 27 2007
Astana, 27 November: Azerbaijan is not yet planning to join NATO,
Azerbaijani Defence Minister Safar Abiyev has said.
"I am stating as a defence minister that we are continuing cooperation
with NATO. Azerbaijan's striving for NATO membership or its plans to
enter NATO are not on the agenda yet," Abiyev told a news conference
on Tuesday [27 November] following a session of the council of defence
ministers of the CIS member states in Astana.
He also told journalists that "the possibility of war is almost 100
per cent as long as Azerbaijan's lands are under Armenian occupation".
For his part, Armenian Defence Minister Mikayel Harutyunyan described
his Azerbaijani counterpart's statement as "categorical" and said
that Armenia saw no alternative to a peaceful solution to the Karabakh
problem.
"It is too categorical to make such statements while the presidents
of the two countries (Armenia and Azerbaijan - Interfax-Kazakhstan)
are holding negotiations on a peaceful solution to the Karabakh
problem. And this is not within the remit of a defence minister since
our countries' presidents and commanders-in-chief are negotiating a
peaceful solution to the problem," he told reporters, commenting on
the Azerbaijani defence minister's remarks.
"We see no alternative to a peaceful solution," Harutyunyan stressed.