Azeri leader rules out concessions before Nagorno-Karabakh talks

Baku

Azerbaijan’s president ruled out making any concessions to Armenia yesterday ahead of talks aimed at halting the deadliest fighting in the South Caucasus region for more than 25 years. President Ilham Aliyev’s uncompromising position in a televised speech appeared to leave little room for de-escalation as the Azeri and Armenian foreign ministers arrived in Moscow.

The talks were expected to be the first diplomatic contact between the enemies since fighting over the Nagorno-Karabakh enclave erupted on Sept. 27, killing hundreds of people.

The mountain enclave belongs to Azerbaijan under international law but broke away in a war as the Soviet Union collapsed and is populated and governed by ethnic Armenians. “Let those holding talks in Moscow know that it’s our territory and we won’t be making any concessions,” Aliyev said after Azeri Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov flew to Moscow.

He said he had proved there was a military solution to the dispute: “We are winning and will get our territory back and ensure our territorial integrity,” Aliyev said. “Let them abandon our territory in peace.” The talks in Moscow, attended by Armenian Foreign Minister Zohrab Mnatsakanyan, follow the launch of a peace drive by France, Russia, and the United States at a meeting in Geneva on Thursday, details of which have not been made public.

The renewed fighting in the decades-old conflict has raised fears of a wider war drawing in Turkey, a close ally of Azerbaijan, and Russia, which has a defense pact with Armenia. The clashes have also increased concern about the security of pipelines that carry Azeri oil and gas to Europe.