Nobody, and even Aliyev believes that Yerevan gave its agreement for the step-by-step resolution of the Karabakh issue

PanARMENIAN.Net - However, some information disseminated by the Azeri press clearly speaks of Baku's active preparations for solving the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict by use of force. According to the political scientist Ali Massimov, "There is the need of not only having a strong and efficient army, but also making some food storehouses, which would be needed during the military actions taken for liberating Nagorno-Karabakh." The information appeared to the public right after Ilham Aliyev's speech made to the refugees. In his speech Azerbaijan's president blamed Armenia for "breaking the agreement about the confidentiality of the process of the ongoing negotiations on peaceful way of Nagorno-Karabakh conflict regulation." One only has to guess what the president meant to say, for it is the official Baku that from time to time speaks about "the reached agreement", which, according to its version, assumes the return of seven Azeri regions, after which the issue of returning the refugees will be immediately considered. Meanwhile Aliyev confirms that these suggestions were made both by Armenia and the mediators. Aliyev also announced that the status of Nagorno-Karabakh "may be discussed only within the frames of territorial integrity of Azerbaijan. At the same time Azerbaijan isn't against to shelter peacekeeping forces, which has been Armenia's initiative." It's strange that Aliyev again speaks about the step-by-step resolution of the Karabakh issue, which was rejected by the Armenian side already in 1997, and which became the reason of the resignation of Armenia's first president. Nobody, and even Aliyev believes that Yerevan gave its agreement for the step-by-step resolution of the Karabakh issue.

Yet, how great is the possibility of the renewal of the military actions in the conflict zone? Hardly does Ilham Aliyev want to win the laurels of the ex-president Ayaz Mütallibov, who lost Khodjalu, or Heydar Aliyev, during whose days Azerbaijan lost four regions and could have lost some more if the immediate armistice wasn't declared by Azerbaijan's initiative. Aliyev knows well what Azerbaijan may expect in case of war. Rattling one's saber is easy, especially with a one-billion military budget and oil, as Ilham Aliyev likes to repeat very often. Moreover, president of Azerbaijan announced, that "Azerbaijan possesses more armament than Armenia," which by itself is a violation of the international responsibilities of the CFE Treaty. Does he really believe that the Azeri Army can indeed win the war without any assistance from Turkish advisors and militants, or from different Islamic groups? The other time they had both, however they lost.

Most likely Aliyev decided to take advantage of the election campaign in Armenia and "support" the Armenian opposition. But the question is whether or not the Armenian opposition needs "this support". If the Armenian opposition really decides to accept any support from any other country, it will be worse for it, if doesn't, then once again Baku hurried to make its plans.

According to the RA Prime-Minister Serge Sargsyan, many a time Armenia has announced its position. "Let them say whatever they want, we already stated our positions," said the Prime-Minister. The RA Ministry of Foreign Affairs expressed a similar viewpoint. "This is not the first time the president of Azerbaijan has tried to promulgate the content of negotiations, however nothing new was mentioned in his speech. As before, I may confirm our approach towards the negotiations, which is based on the self-determination of Nagorno-Karabakh. The other issues of negotiations will proceed from the main point. As for the Azeri president's threats regarding the conflict resolution with the help of military actions, repeating it all the time, Azerbaijan only shows its disrespect towards the international liabilities and weakness," said acting press-secretary of RA Ministry of Foreign Affairs Vladimir Karapetyan.