AZERI MP, OFFICIAL CONDEMN DAGESTANI SCHOLAR’S STATEMENT AT YEREVAN CONFERENCE

Azeri Press Agency, Azerbaijan
Sept 3 2007

An Azerbaijani MP and a Foreign Ministry official have condemned a
statement made by a historian from the Russian republic of Dagestan
in Armenia that the Avars, an ethnic group, living in northern
Azerbaijan are striving for autonomy. They described the statement as
"provocative" and said that the Avars support Azerbaijan’s statehood.

The following is the text of report by Azerbaijani news agency APA:

"Occasionally, there are various provocations against Azerbaijan,
and this is one of them. The Avars living in Azerbaijan have never
had any plans on that score," a member of parliament from Balakan
[northern Azerbaijan], a master of sciences in philosophy and chief
lecturer, Rabiyyat Aslanova, has told APA.

Expressing her attitude to the statement made by the professor
of Dagestan State University, Timur Aytberov, at the symposium
"Caucasian Albania: Statehood and Ethno-Cultural Legacy" held in
Armenia that the Avars living in Azerbaijan intend to attain autonomy,
Aslanova described it as an attempt to disrupt peace and stability
in Azerbaijan.

"The national minorities living in Azerbaijan have accepted the
greatest idea of Azerbaijani statehood as their conviction. The Avars
living in Azerbaijan have never had such an intention.

Representatives of national minorities have always expressed their
attitude to such words and provocative steps. I don’t know who
this person is, because as a scientist, his name is not known to the
scientific community. Nor do we know him as a public figure. He has no
right to speak on behalf of the Avar people, especially the national
minorities living in Azerbaijan. As a member of parliament from that
region, I state that all talk about ‘national minorities or national
majorities’ is totally alien to Balakan. We are against raising this
issue. Representatives of every people, nation and ethnic group living
in Azerbaijan are guided by the great idea of Azerbaijani statehood
and take special pride in being citizens of this country," [she said].

The head of the press office of the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry,
Xazar Ibrahim, who expressed his view on the issue, described the
statement made on behalf of the Avars as a provocation: "Armenia is
using various people who call themselves scientists and is trying
to stake more territorial claims to Azerbaijan. The international
community and regional countries must take this into account. I hope
that Armenia will study the history of Caucasian Albania [an ancient
kingdom that existed on the territory of present-day Azerbaijan]
and realize that all its claims are totally groundless," [he said].