Turkey says planned elections in disputed Azeri-Armenian region illegitimate

Anatolia news agency
17 Jun 05

Ankara, 17 June: Namik Tan, spokesman of the Turkish Ministry
of Foreign Affairs, said that Turkey considered “illegitimate”
parliamentary elections planned to be held in Nagornyy Karabakh.

Replying to a question on parliamentary elections to be held in
Nagornyy Karabakh on 19 June, Tan stated, “Elections planned to be
held in Nagornyy Karabakh, which is still under Armenian occupation,
mean violation of principles of UN, OSCE (Organization for Security
and Cooperation in Europe) and Council of Europe, and international
law principles.”

Underlining that Nagornyy Karabakh issue was one of the main reasons
which prevented settlement of peace and stability, cooperation and
good relations between regional countries in southern Caucasus region,
Tan recalled that Turkey believed that a lasting solution should be
found to the issue through dialogue within the scope of territorial
integrity of Azerbaijan and in line of international law principles.

Azerbaijani Ministry of Foreign Affairs also issued a similar statement
a few days ago, condemning the parliamentary elections planned to be
held in Nagornyy Karabakh.

The statement said that elections to be held in the region under
occupation would not affect positively solution process of the
Nagornyy Karabakh issue, underlining that such initiatives did not
have a legal validity. It added that it did not comply with the
Constitution of Azerbaijan.