TURKISH FOREIGN MINISTRY CONDEMNS ILLEGAL PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS IN NAGORNO-KARABAKH

TREND News Agency, Azerbaijan
July 17 2007

Turkey, Ankara / Òrend corr A. Alaskarov / The Turkish Foreign
Ministry publicized a report in Ankara on 17 July condemning the
illegal presidential elections in the Azerbaijani occupied territories
of Nagorno-Karabakh scheduled for 19 July.

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.

–Boundary_(ID_epm8Bbnz/cgMq++K55j83g) —

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress