Azeri politician says forthcoming elections to be democratic

Yeni Musavat, Baku
17 Jan 05

I can see no progress in Azerbaijani-Armenian talks on the Nagornyy
Karabakh settlement, Eldar Namazov, president of the public forum For
Azerbaijan, has said.

“I believe that the continuing negotiations are a well-thought-out
game of the authorities of the two sides. Azerbaijan and Armenia have
always intensified talks ahead of elections,” Namazov said in an
interview with Azerbaijani Yeni Musavat newspaper.

They want others to believe that they are close to striking a peace
deal. But after elections are rigged, it emerges that there was no
deal whatsoever, the politician said.

But Namazov said he could see very serious positive changes in
society. I am confident that democratic forces will unite ahead of the
parliamentary elections this year, he noted.

“Opposition parties, NGOs, business people and the intelligentsia
agree that democratic changes are inevitable. Everyone understands
that the only way out of the current situation in the country is to
establish democratic principles and hold free and fair elections,” the
politician told the newspaper.

Namazov stressed that the processes in Georgia and Ukraine were not
accidental. He said he believed that democratic elections would be
eventually conducted in all former Soviet republics, including
Azerbaijan.