Interfax News Agency, Russia
May 16 2008

Nagorno Karabakh status cannot be decided by plebiscite – Azerbaijan
Foreign Ministry

BAKU May 16

Baku has dismissed the possibility of holding a plebiscite to decide
the Nagorno Karabakh status.

"There can be no plebiscite, this process [conflict resolution] must
continue gradually," Azeri Foreign Ministry’s spokesman Khazar Ibragim
told Interfax-Azerbaijan, commenting on the statement by Armenian
Foreign Minister Edvard Nalbandian that the Nagorno Karabakh status
could be decided by a plebiscite.

"The question of the Nagorno Karabakh status will not be resolved
unless Armenia shows the respect for Azerbaijan’s territorial
integrity and withdraws its troops from the occupied Azeri territories
and returns these lands to Azeri refugees and displaced persons,"
Ibragim said.