ELECTIONS IN NAGORNO-KARABAKH SERVE TO PROLONG EXISTENCE OF SEPARATIST REGIME, TOP AZERI OFFICIAL

State Telegraph Agency of the Republic of Azerbaijan
May 24, 2010 Monday

Head of socio-political affairs department at the Azerbaijani
President`s Administration has reiterated the government`s condemnation
of elections the separatist regime held yesterday in Azerbaijan`s
Nagorno-Karabakh region, which is under the occupation of the Armenian
Armed Forces.

Ali Hasanov said: We have repeatedly stated that these elections serve
to prolong the existence of the separatist regime and legalize their
illegal activities.

The Azerbaijani government has already declared its position on the
elections held by the separatist regime in the Nagorno-Karabakh. The
government of Azerbaijan has called on all international organizations,
in particular the OSCE Minsk Group, which mediates a peace process
in the region, to condemn these elections and express their protest
to the separatist regime. And our call has been heard.

Anyhow, it is impossible to carry out elections in a region half of
whose population are IDPs, said Hasanov.

We can never accept this fact. Azerbaijan has repeatedly declared that
no election can be considered legal in the Nagorno-Karabakh unless its
status is agreed and unless IDPs return to their homelands, he added.

From: A. Papazian