Iranian expert warns poll ‘could lead to Garabagh’s cessation’

Assa-Irada, Azerbaijan
May 4 2006

Baku, May 3, AssA-Irada — An Iranian expert has said Azerbaijan
“could lose its territories” currently under Armenian occupation if
it agrees to the conduct of a referendum in Upper (Nagorno) Garabagh
to determine its status in the future.

“The Garabagh Armenians will undoubtedly vote for the cessation of
the region from Azerbaijan,” Jalal Muhammadli warned.

“Nowhere in the world an issue like territorial integrity could be
solved through a referendum. It could be solved only by power and
strength,” the analyst said in an interview with AssA-Irada.

Muhammadli advised the West, which has been advocating for a vote
to determine the Upper Garabagh status, to use this option instead
to determine the status of Basques who have been active in Spain for
many years.

“It was such a referendum that led to the separation of the present-day
Bahrain from Iran in 1967,” the embassy representative added.*