Nestle in Azerbaijan CD blunder

Nestle in Azerbaijan CD blunder
By Elettra Neysmith
West Asia editor, BBC News

Story from BBC NEWS:
europe/7382415.stm

Published: 2008/05/03 19:31:44 GMT

The Swiss-based multinational food company, Nestle, has apologised to
Azerbaijan after a free gift attached to a breakfast cereal backfired.

The CD-ROM featured information about countries around the world but
the data on Azerbaijan caused outrage there.

It said that Azerbaijan had started a war against neighbouring Armenia
and that the hotly disputed territory of Nagorno-Karabakh belonged to
Armenia.

Nestle has withdrawn the cereal and promised to seize the offending
CDs.

Tense and volatile

Conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia in the early 1990s over
Nagorno-Karabakh killed an estimated 30,000 people.

Hundreds of thousands of refugees were created on both sides.

And despite a peace deal in 1994, the situation remains tense and
volatile.

Nestle inadvertently stumbled into a minefield.

The Azeri government vowed to take action, and there has been
widespread talk of a public boycott.

Nestle has now issued a formal apology but some Azeris are still not
happy.

They accuse Nestle of playing Armenia’s hand, and are demanding more
than just an apology to chew on.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/world/

Emil Lazarian

“I should like to see any power of the world destroy this race, this small tribe of unimportant people, whose wars have all been fought and lost, whose structures have crumbled, literature is unread, music is unheard, and prayers are no more answered. Go ahead, destroy Armenia . See if you can do it. Send them into the desert without bread or water. Burn their homes and churches. Then see if they will not laugh, sing and pray again. For when two of them meet anywhere in the world, see if they will not create a New Armenia.” - WS