KOSOVO CANNOT BE MODEL FOR KARABAKH CONFLICT SETTLEMENT – AZERBAIJAN

istockAnalyst.com
July 23 2008
OR

Azerbaijan regards as wrong the idea of the Armenian leadership to
use Kosovo as a model for the settlement of the conflict in Karabakh.

"Once again we see an attempt by a representative of the Armenian
government to use Kosovo as a precedent," press secretary of the
Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry Hazar Ibrahim told Interfax, commenting on
a corresponding declaration by Armenian Prime Minister Tigran Sargsian.

"Firstly, the international community has definitely declared that
Kosovo is not and cannot be a precedent for the settlement of other
conflicts, including the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict in Nagorno
Karabakh," he said.

"Secondly, it should be remembered that Armenia conducted ethnic
cleansing in the territory of Azerbaijan, and hence any self-
determination of Nagorno Karabakh is out of the question at the
present moment. Only after the Azeri community returns to its land
can we start speaking of any self-determination in the framework of
the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan," Ibrahim said.

Thirdly, such declarations by Armenian officials are provoking
aggressive rhetoric, which the cochairmen of the OSCE Minsk group have
asked to refrain from in their statement, and they are fundamentally
hindering the negotiating process and the peaceful settlement of
the conflict.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress