ESTONIAN MP VOWS KARABAKH ISSUE TO BE PUT ON EU AGENDA – AZERI TV

ANS TV, Baku
1 Nov 04

(Presenter) A delegation led by the chairman of the foreign relations
committee of the Estonian parliament, Marko Mihkelson, is in Baku. The
chairman of the Milli Maclis (Azerbaijani parliament), Murtuz
Alasgarov, received him today. The main topics of discussion were
bilateral relations, as well as the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict. The
Estonian MP made a promise at the end: to put the Karabakh problem on
the agenda of the European Union.

(Correspondent, over video of the meeting) At a meeting with the
chairman of the foreign relations committee of the Estonian parliament
and the head of the (Estonian) parliament’s delegation to the
Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PA CE), Marko
Mihkelson, the chairman of the Milli Maclis, Murtuz Alasgarov, said
that more than a fifth of Azerbaijan’s territories has been occupied,
over a million people are living as refugees and displaced persons and
those driven out of their land have now been living in more than 60
districts. The parliament speaker also told the visitors that the
aggressor state of Armenia had been defying the resolutions issued by
the UN and other international organizations.

(Murtuz Alasgarov, captioned, shown speaking at the meeting) The
Council of Europe has adopted a document saying that Armenia is an
aggressor state, and a report on the Karabakh issue will be heard by
the Council of Europe late November this year. I would like to tell
you that Armenia brings its radioactive waste from the Metsamor
nuclear power station into Azerbaijan and buries it in Nagornyy
Karabakh.

(Correspondent) Murtuz Alasgarov said that there should be no
concessions to terrorism and separatism and the culprits should be
punished and stressed that Azerbaijan does not intend to yield even an
inch of its land to anybody. The chairman of the foreign relations
committee of the Estonian parliament and the head of the parliament’s
delegation to the PA CE, Marko Mihkelson, said that his country was in
favour of a fair solution to the conflict and would continue
supporting Azerbaijan’s position.

(Mihkelson, speaking in English with Azeri voice-over) We have also
visited Armenia and Georgia. Now, we are in Azerbaijan. The purpose of
our visit is to study the South Caucasus region. We will try to assist
in the resolution of the conflict as a NATO member state.

(Correspondent, over video of Mihkelson speaking, meeting) Marko
Mihkelson said the European Union is interested in the establishment
of stability in the South Caucasus, because without that there can be
no talk about reforms. Marko Mihkelson thinks that the only way of
resolving frozen conflicts is through negotiations. He also stressed
that the Nagornyy Karabakh conflict would be included in the agenda of
the European Union.

Afat Telmanqizi, Azar Qarayev for ANS.