ALIYEV INAUGURATED FOR 2ND TERM AS PRESIDENT OF AZERBAIJAN

RIA Novosti
15:30 | 24/ 10/ 2008

BAKU, October 24 (RIA Novosti) – Ilham Aliyev was inaugurated for
his second term as Azerbaijan’s president on Friday, just over a week
after his re-election in a poll boycotted by some opposition parties.

The South Caucasus state’s Constitutional Court approved on Wednesday
the results of the October 15 presidential polls, in which Aliyev
received 88.73% of the vote. According to Azerbaijan’s top election
authority, turnout was 75.12%. More than 4.8 million people were
registered to vote.

Russia was represented at the ceremony by Sergei Naryshkin, the head
of the presidential administration, while Georgian President Mikheil
Saakashvili, CIS Executive Secretary Sergei Lebedev, and a Turkish
deputy prime minister, Cemil Cicek, were also in attendance.

Aliyev took over as president when his father, Heydar, stepped down
in 2003, subsequently winning 76.84% of the vote in that year’s
presidential election.

"I would like to reiterate today that I will remain committed to these
policies [of Heydar Aliyev], and will not deviate from this path,"
the newly inaugurated president said.

He categorically opposed independence for Nagorny Karabakh, a region
in Azerbaijan with a largely Armenian population. The region declared
its independence from Azerbaijan to join Armenia in 1988 and has been
a source of conflict ever since.

"Never – not today, nor tomorrow, not in 10 years, nor in 50 years
will Nagorny Karabakh be granted sovereignty," Aliyev said.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said earlier this week he could
soon discuss a Nagorny Karabakh settlement with his Armenian and
Azerbaijani counterparts in Moscow.