KARABAKH NOT TO BE INVOLVED IN AZERI ELECTION – SEPARATIST SPEAKER

Mediamax News Agency, Armenia
Oct 11 2005

Yerevan, 11 October: The speaker of the National Assembly of the
Nagornyy Karabakh republic [NKR], Ashot Gulyan, today described as
“absurd” the appeal of the Azerbaijani Central Electoral Committee
to NKR citizens to participate in the parliamentary election in
Azerbaijan.

“It is clear that there will be no participation because we conduct
our own elections,” Gulyan said.

Commenting on the domestic political situation in Azerbaijan in the
run-up to the election, Gulyan pointed out that “it totally coincides
with our predictions”, Mediamax reports. He said that “we were sure
that the election campaign will be accompanied by violations, illegal
rallies, pressure on the opposition and dispersal of demonstrators”.

The speaker of the NKR parliament said that the situation in
Azerbaijan will worsen even more as the election approaches. “I
think international observers will have the opportunity to assess the
situation in the run-up to the election in Azerbaijan and compare it
with the situation in the run-up to the election in Nagornyy Karabakh,”
said Ashot Gulyan.

Touching on the Karabakh conflict settlement, Ashot Gulyan pointed
out that it is impossible to achieve a solution to the problem when
there is no trust between the conflicting sides and when Azerbaijan
is torpedoing any contacts between representatives of the two nations.

The speaker said that the position of the Karabakh side based on the
will of the NKR people, who have spoken out in favour of independent
statehood, remains unchanged.