AZERI OFFICIALS RIDICULE IDEA OF TYING KARABAKH AND OLYMPICS-2016 ISSUES

ECHO
Jan 23 2008
Azerbaijan

Several Azerbaijani officials have slammed the idea that Armenia
would support Azerbaijan’s bid to host the 2016 Olympic Games while
Azerbaijan would hand Nagornyy Karabakh over to Armenia.

On 22 January, the Azerbaijani Ekho newspaper quoted unnamed Armenian
sources as saying that "the Armenians are ready to render Azerbaijan
assistance in its bid for the 2016 Olympic Games in exchange for
Azerbaijan’s consent to give Karabakh to Armenia".

In an interview with Azerbaijan’s Ekho newspaper published on
22 January, the head of the foreign relations department of the
Azerbaijani Youth and Sports Ministry, Ilham Madatov, said: "This
kind of issue cannot be on the agenda for discussions. The hosting of
the Olympic Games and the Nagornyy Karabakh problem can in no way be
discussed… We cannot accept these kinds of publications as normal."

Madatov said that Armenia cannot offer a 100-per-cent guarantee that
Azerbaijan would be the host of the 2016 Olympic Games and added that
only someone with "abnormal thinking" could have come up with such
a proposal.

The spokesman for the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry, Xazar Ibrahim,
said that the idea could only be described as absurd.

"It is not even worth commenting on, I’ve never heard of such madness,"
Ibrahim said.

The head of Baku’s youth and sports department, Raqif Abbasov, told
the paper that "Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity is not a subject
for discussion, particularly as the subject of a transaction.

Karabakh is an integral part of our country and this will always be
the case".

Abbasov believes that Azerbaijan does not need Armenia to lobby for
its bid to host the 2016 Olympic Games.