KHUDAT DISTRICT, Azerbaijan, July 21 (AFP) - Azerbaijan will make no compromises in its negotiations with Armenia over the disputed enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh, President Ilham Aliyev said Wednesday.
The statement appeared to mark a hardening of Azerbaijan's stance over the conflict, which remains unresolved after a war in the early 1990s that displaced a million civilians and left some 35,000 people dead.
"We cannot react positively to calls on us to make compromises. On questions of our territorial integrity we will never make any compromises," Aliyev said on a visit to northern Azerbaijan.
"Certain calls on us (to make compromises on Nagorno-Karabakh) are without foundation," the Azeri leader added.
"All international norms, the economic situation, are on our side. Large resources are being given to the army and we will continue to make available these resources."
Since large-scale fighting ceased in 1994 Nagorno-Karabakh -- which is internationally recognised as part of Azerbaijan -- and several surrounding Azeri regions have been under the control of Armenian forces.
Azerbaijan has insisted that Armenian troops relinquish the territory, and has said it reserves the right to use force to settle the dispute.
In the past, Azerbaijan has signalled that it might make concessions in order to reach a lasting peace settlement with Armenia over the enclage. One possibility that has been mooted is an exchange of territory.
But Aliyev's comments Wednesday, to a unit of border guards on Azerbaijan's frontier with Russia, seemed to indicate that this option has now been ruled out.