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AZERBAIJAN-ARMENIA LEAD
Azerbaijan says ‘last chance’ for Armenia to settle conflict peacefully
BAKU, Oct 9, 2020 (BSS/AFP) – Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev
said Friday that Baku was giving Armenia a “last chance” to peacefully
resolve their conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh, as talks between the two
sides began in Moscow.
Baku and Yerevan have been locked in deadly clashes over Karabakh
since September 27 — the heaviest fighting since the 1994 ceasefire
that ended their war for control of the enclave.
“We are giving Armenia a chance to settle the conflict peacefully.
This is their last chance,” Aliyev said in a televised address to the
nation as the Armenian and Azerbaijani foreign ministers began
Russian-mediated talks in Moscow.
“The only path towards resolving the issue is the liberation of our
territories,” he said, adding that “there will be no negotiations if
Armenia’s foreign minister says Karabakh belongs to Armenia” during
the talks in Moscow.
“We are winning” on the battlefield, he said. “We will get our lands
back and restore our territorial integrity.”
Karabakh, Azerbaijan’s ethnically Armenian region, broke away from
Baku in a 1990s war that claimed the lives of some 30,000 people.
The territory — together with seven surrounding districts of
Azerbaijan — has since remained under the control of Yerevan-backed
separatist forces.
The mountainous enclave of some 140,000 is internationally
recognised as part of Azerbaijan.
BSS/AFP/MRU/2120hrs