Ilham Aliyev: “7 regions must be liberated first and status of Nagorno Karabakh should be determined in the next phase”

“The most budget-funded sphere is the defense field in Azerbaijan and this policy will be continued until solution to the Nagorno Karabakh conflict”, said President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev in his interview with Russian ITAR-TASS agency, APA reports.

He said there was never a defense-industry complex in Azerbaijan and this sphere was created in recent years. “Today Azerbaijani Army is a structure, which is able to fulfill any duty, first of all the duty of liberation of the occupied territories. If Azerbaijan had this potential after the collapse of USSR, our lands would not be occupied”. Ilham Aliyev said the negotiations process did not play out and there was still a hope for peaceful solution to the conflict. “The conflict should be resolved phase by phase. In the first phase, 7 regions around Nagorno Karabakh must be liberated. The status of Nagorno Karabakh should be determined in the next phase. This status should be determined within the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan and with consideration of the highest autonomy of Nagorno Karabakh that was never mono-ethnic as it is today. We think that current format of the negotiations reflect these approaches. There is a new leadership in Armenia now and there is a hope for more constructive approach by Yerevan to this issue”.