MPS DENY CONGRATULATING ARMENIAN SPEAKER
AzerNews Weekly, Azerbaijan
June 14 2006
The reports suggesting that the Azeri parliament speaker Ogtay Asadov
has congratulated his Armenian counterpart Tigran Torasian on being
elected to the post are wide of the mark, says an Azerbaijani MP who
attended a meeting of the regional organization in Yerevan last week.
Armenian media reported on Thursday that the Azeri speaker’s message of
congratulation was read out by a member of the Azerbaijani delegation
at the Black Sea Economic Cooperation Organization (BSEC) Parliamentary
Assembly, Asaf Hajiyev, at a plenary session in the Armenian capital.
Hajiyev called these reports a "flagrant lie" and yet another
provocation by Armenians, saying that such a letter was never
presented.
"The speaker’s father, Sabir Asadov, struggled against Armenian
atrocities all his life and wrote several books on Armenian
vandalism. In such case, what congratulatory letter by Asadov can we
talk about?" he enquired.
The MP dismissed speculations that the Armenian delegation had been
individually invited to the next meeting of BSEC PA due in Baku on
November 22-23.
"After Azerbaijan assumed chairmanship in the organization, I invited
all members of the Assembly to the gathering, but no special invitation
was forwarded to Armenians."
Another MP who attended the session, Musa Guliyev, dismissed the
Armenian media reports alleging that he spoke of possible economic
cooperation between the two countries in his interviews. "I said such
collaboration could be possible only after the sides sign a peace
accord," he stressed.
Guliyev added that he had underscored that if the Garabagh conflict
is not resolved in peace, Azerbaijan will free its territories from
Armenian occupation through military action.
Following the statement, the Armenian speaker warned that Azeri MPs
should not resort to belligerent rhetoric.
"He told us that this could create problems to our security,"
Guliyev said.
