Azerbaijan may bankrupt company printing money for breakaway Karabakh – TV

Azad Azarbaycan TV, Baku
19 Jul 04

[Presenter] The Educational Coin Company of the USA does not intend to
stop its campaign to promote the illegal money being printed for the
Karabakh separatists. In response to a query from the Azerbaijani
government, the company said that it is carrying out the promotion
campaign on the basis of a contract. All issues that cause
controversy must be resolved by the sides themselves, the company
said.

[Correspondent over archive footage, web page of Education Coin
Company] The National Bank of Azerbaijan [NBA] has received a reply to
its protest letter sent to the Educational Coin Company of the
USA. The bank protested against the printing of the money under the
name of the self-styled Nagornyy Karabakh Republic [NKR] and demanded
that the printing of the money be stopped.

The company said that Azerbaijan’s claims were true only to some
extent. The company confirmed that it promoted the money of the
separatists but said that another body is printing the money. We are
only promoting the money and in accordance with the mutual agreement
we cannot disclose who prints it or from whom we receive the 10-dram
and 20-dram banknotes presented as the currency of the NKR. This is a
secret. The Education Coin Company also said that it could not stop
its promotion campaign because of the contract with the unnamed body.

Then the NBA asked international experts to track down the company
which is printing the money for the Karabakh separatists. There are
only two companies in the world which produce money-printing
equipment. They either sell the equipment to well-known and affluent
companies or to states. Currently, the NBA and the Azerbaijani Foreign
Ministry continue their investigation into this. If the investigation
reveals the name of the company printing the money, then the
Azerbaijani government will sue it and this could result in the
bankruptcy of the company in question, the NBA said. However, if it is
revealed that the money are being printed under the aegis of a country
then this would lead to an international scandal because the currency
is considered an official attribute of a sovereign state and therefore
Azerbaijan will immediately issue a protest note. End of quote.

As for the separatists, they want to increase the amount of money in
circulation. To recap, the 10-dram and 20-dram banknotes feature the
writing “NKR” and Azerbaijan’s national ornaments and historical
monuments like the Xudafarin bridge [between Azerbaijan and Iran, in
the southwestern Cabrayil District now controlled by the Armenian
forces]. Like the national currency of Armenia, these notes are also
called drams.