Azeri deputy speaker rejects EU recommendations on cooperation with Armenia

Bilik Dunyasi news agency
7 Apr 05

Baku, 7 April: The EU expects that the Azerbaijani leadership hold
free, democratic and fair parliamentary elections [in November] which
will serve the strengthening of EU-Azerbaijani relations, the British
ambassador to Azerbaijan, Laurie Bristow, has told the seminar on
“Azerbaijan’s integration into the EU’s European Neighbourhood Policy”
organized in Baku by the EU office in Azerbaijan and the South Caucasus
parliamentary initiative.

“Voters must see in parliament the deputies they voted for,” he said.

According to the diplomat, democratic elections in Azerbaijan are
important to the development of the EU-Azerbaijan cooperation. The
EU is ready to help Azerbaijan in this, the ambassador said.

The EU appreciates Azerbaijan’s joining the European Neighbourhood
Policy because it testifies to the country’s aspiration to integration
into Europe, Bristow said. He called on Azerbaijan to maintain closer
cooperation with other countries of the South Caucasus.

Members of the Milli Maclis [Azerbaijani parliament] who also took
part in the seminar expressed their disagreement with a number
of EU recommendations, namely on the issue of cooperation with
Armenia. Deputy Speaker Ziyafat Asgarov said it was wrong to urge
Azerbaijan to cooperate with an aggressor which has occupied 20 per
cent of Azerbaijani territories.

International organizations should not turn a blind eye to the fact
that these territories are used for drug trafficking and that Armenia
uses the drug money to buy weapons and hamper the restoration of
stability in the region, Asgarov said.

The seminar participants urged international organizations to step
up their efforts towards securing the speediest solution to the
Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict which impedes the restoration of peace
and stability in the region and the EU enlargement.