Azeri defense ministry: Armenia brings new war closer
Azerbaijan's defense minister has said in a meeting with a US military official that Armenia brings a new war closer by refusing to return Azerbaijani territory that has been under its occupation for more than two decades, the Defense Ministry said Tuesday.
During the meeting with Myles Deering, a US Army National Guard major general serving as the Adjutant General of the state of Oklahoma, Safar Abiyev informed him about the military-political situation in the region, noting the ongoing hostile policy of neighboring Armenia.
The efforts of the OSCE Minsk Group brokering peace talks have not led to specific results yet, and in such a situation Azerbaijan has no options except to strengthen its armed forces and liberate the occupied territories, Abiyev said.
Armenia unleashed a lengthy war against Azerbaijan over Nagorno-Karabakh in the early 1990s, which led to displacement of about one million Azerbaijanis and occupation of over 20 percent of Azerbaijan's internationally recognized territory.