TURKISH FOREIGN MINISTRY CONDEMNS THE PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS IN NAGORNO KARABAKH

armradio.am
17.07.2007 14:24

The Turkish Foreign Ministry publicized a report in Ankara on 17 July
condemning the presidential elections in Nagorno-Karabakh scheduled
for 19 July, Trend reports.

The document stated, "As it was known, after an illegal constitutional
referendum held in Azerbaijani Nagorno-Karabakh territories occupied by
Armenia on 10 December 2006, the so-called presidential elections are
planned to be held in the area on 19 July 2007." The report says that
"the illegal elections are considered in Ankara to be a component of
efforts and unilateral steps intended to legalize the situation in
Nagorno-Karabakh which does not correspond to the standards of the
international law, as well as to violate the decisions made by the
UN Security Council and OSCE."

The report emphasises that during the period when talks on the
settlement of Armenian-Azerbaijani Nagorno-Karabakh conflict
are in progress within the framework of the OSCE Minsk Group,
"holding the so-called presidential elections in occupied
Azerbaijani Nagorno-Karabakh should be viewed as a challenge to the
peace process. In this connection, the Turkish Foreign Ministry,
condemning the elections as another effort to break political unity,
sovereignty, and territorial integrity of Azerbaijan, believes them
to be incompetent from the standpoint of the international law and
does not recognize the results of the elections."