Azeri president says Yerevan under pressure over Karabakh

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev has said that the mediators in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict are exerting pressure on Armenia.


"According to information available to us, the [OSCE Minsk Group] co-chair countries are exerting serious pressure on Armenia... As they [Armenia] saw this, they decided to resort to provocation again. That happened in April. They committed armed provocation and attacked our [army] positions," ANN.Az quoted Aliyev as saying during a visit to a military base in Tartar District which is bordering the Karabakh conflict zone.


He went on to say that Azerbaijan wanted to resolve the conflict peacefully.


"We do not want war. We want the problem to be resolved by peaceful means. But it must be resolved. There is no point in holding negotiations for show," Aliyev said.


Armenian and Azerbaijani troops were involved in heavy fighting in the Karabakh conflict zone in early April. It has been the worst tension since the former Soviet states signed a cease-fire in 1994 following a war over Karabakh that left over 30,000 people dead and displaced at least a million.

www.ann.az