Azeris blast British peer for organizing sporting events in separatist
Karabakh
Ekho, Baku
3 Dec 04
Excerpt from T. Tushiyev’s report by Azerbaijani newspaper Ekho on 3
December headlined “Karabakh separatists ‘mark’ the International Day
for Disabled Persons in their own way”
The Karabakh separatists, who are noted for being “active”, have
failed to mark peacefully 3 December, the International Day for
Disabled Persons. This time they organized a competition-festival for
the disabled below 18. The separatists intend to conduct competitions
in table tennis, chess and other sports. It is not known yet whether
disabled sportsmen from other countries have been invited. The
activities are organized by “the ministry of social security of the
Nagornyy Karabakh republic” (quotation marks have been inserted by us
here and throughout – author) and the Xankandi-based rehabilitation
centre named after the deputy speaker of the British House of Lords,
Caroline Cox.
This is not the first time that the representative of the British
parliament is providing support for Nagornyy Karabakh’s separatist
regime. This is confirmed by the spokesman for the Ministry of Youth,
Sports and Tourism, Raqif Abbasov, who criticizes Baroness Caroline
Cox for her organizational support.
“We will express our indignation to the British embassy in Baku. Such
activities held on the territory of Azerbaijan by the unrecognized
separatist regime and supported by a representative of the British
parliament are outrageous. We are going to find out whether disabled
sportsmen from other countries have been invited to this festival and
if this is confirmed, we will take urgent measures to ensure that the
international community condemns and does not recognize such
actions. Let me assure you that any attempt to ‘push’ such events to
the international level is doomed to failure. The same happened to
Armenia’s attempts to secure international status for a chess
tournament organized in March this year in memory of former world
champion Tigran Petrosyan. The same outcome is in store for other
attempts by the separatists,” Raqif Abbasov told Ekho.
[Passage omitted: background information]
The reaction of the head of the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry’s press
service, Matin Mirza, was a little more reserved.
“Before we start taking any measures, it is first of all necessary to
find out whether representatives of other countries are taking part in
this event. If they are, we will certainly take decisive measures to
condemn this as yet another provocation on the part of the
Armenians. Otherwise, as long as these lands are controlled by the
Nagornyy Karabakh separatists, we can’t prevent this from
happening. As for the participation of Baroness Caroline Cox, this is
not the first time that she has organized such activities for the
Armenian side. This is her private initiative and the British
government is not taking part in this,” Matin Mirza said.