AZERI LEADER SAYS KARABAKH SOLUTION DEPENDS ON POLL, AGAINST DEMOCRACY “EXPORT”

Azad Azarbaycan TV, Baku
8 Mar 06

[Presenter] The resolution of the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict has
been discussed during Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev’s visit to
Japan. The president reiterated Baku’s loyalty to the peace process.

At the same time, he said that Baku’s position on the resolution will
be formed in an opinion poll, if the talks remained deadlocked. Our
correspondent Vaqif Aydinoglu in Tokyo has the details.

[Correspondent by phone over Ilham Aliyev addressing meeting in
Japan] The Nagornyy Karabakh resolution will depend on the results
of an opinion poll, President Ilham Aliyev told a meeting at the
Japan Institute of International Affairs today. The president made
a detailed speech on the conflict. Then he answered questions from
participants in the meeting.

Asked about Azerbaijan’s step should the talks yield no results,
President Aliyev said that although the sides were close to achieving
results several times, Armenia found some dubious pretexts to postpone
the talks repeatedly. A glaring example of this is the recent
Ramboillet meeting, he said. He said that the Azerbaijani public
would decide what steps should the country take if the talks were to
fail. The president said that the public should have the final say.

The issue will be submitted to the public for discussion and only after
this, Azerbaijan might reconsider its position. The president told
the meeting that despite all these difficulties, Azerbaijan has been
very successful in the economic and political spheres over the past
years. The meeting organized at the Japan Institute of International
Affairs was attended by some ministers of the Japanese government
and ambassadors and diplomats of numerous countries in Japan.

[Passage omitted: reported details]

[Russian ITAR-TASS news agency reported at 0744 gmt 8 March that Aliyev
warned foreign forces against the attempts to “export democracy” to
Azerbaijan. He said that “the export of democracy does not work. There
should be an evolutionary process… The attempts to export democracy
lead to social and political problems and undermine stability… As
regards our country, it will decide itself how to live and develop.”]

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress