Gabala radar is no problem in Azerbaijani-Russian relations - Aliyev
BAKU. April 14 (Interfax) - The question of Gabala radar station has never created any obstructions to the development of bilateral relations between Azerbaijan and Russia; Baku only wants the lease payment for the facility to be closer to reality, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said in an interview with Russia 24 TV channel.
"The lease payment for the Gabala radar station is merely $7 million for a territory covering some 300 hectares in one of the most picturesque places of Azerbaijan - the second most popular tourist center after Baku. While those who live far away from the sea spend their holidays on the sea, we who live on the Caspian spend our holidays in the mountains. Therefore it is our wish that the lease payment for the facility would be more realistic. Firstly, this would be some sort of compensation for the past 10 years because during the past 10 years Azerbaijan never raised the issue of revising the price, even though, I think, everyone realized, and in Russia too, that the rate is symbolic, to put it mildly," Aliyev said.
The agreement on the status, principles and terms of the operation of Gabala radar station between the governments of Azerbaijan and Russia expired in December 2012 and the Russian side sent a note to Azerbaijan on stopping the radar's operation.
Aliyev said that the wish to raise the rent also stems from the fact that there has been enormous progress in military-technical cooperation between Azerbaijan and Russia during that past five-six years and "these procurements are counted in billions of dollars."
"We are buying Russian military hardware at world prices. We think that if we are buying at world prices, if we make all other settlements at world prices, the size of the lease should correspond to that or be close to it," the Azerbaijani president said.