OFFICIAL BAKU CONFIDENT FORTHCOMING "PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS"

Trend News Agency, Azerbaijan
April 4 2007

Official Baku Confident Forthcoming "Presidential Elections" in Self-Proclaimed Nagorno-Karabakh
Separatist Regime Will Not Be Acknowledged by International Community

Azerbaijan, Baku/ Trend , corr. E. Husseynov/ Commenting on a piece
of information concerning the so-called "presidential elections"
scheduled for June 19th, 2007 in the breakway Azerbaijani region of
Nagorno-Karabakh, Khazar Ibrahim, the Chief of the Press Service of
the Azerbaijani Foreign Office Official Baku is confident that the
elections will not be acknowledged by the international community.

The Press Secretary said that the forthcoming "elections" would have
no force either politically or from any other point of view. "Any
so-called "elections" or other similar elections, connected with
polling the opinion of the remaining population of the occupied
territories of Azerbaijan, have been acknowledged by neither any
of the countries nor the entire international community, including
different international organizations."

"Here we may refer to the OCSE Minsk Group Chairs on the resolution
of the Armenian-Azerbaijani Nagorno-Karabakh conflict," resumed
Mr. Ibrahim.

The decision taken by the self-proclaimed "National Assembly of
Nagorno-Karabakh Republic" concerning the fact that the "presidential
elections" is to be held on June, 19, 2007, has been publicized today
by the Armenian Agency – "Mediamax". The nomination of "candidates"
to the "Presidency" is to begin 90 days prior to the "elections"
themselves. Arkady Gukasian, the Acting Head of the "Republic", who
has held this post since 1997, previously stated that despite the
possibility and right to nominate his candidacy for the "presidency"
for the third term, which was confirmed by the recently-approved
"Constitution", he will not take part in the "election campaign"
this time.