July 15, 2005 - 08:39 AMT
BAKU CONSENT TO REFERENDUM IN KARABAKH EQUAL TO HIGH TREASON
"Official Baku should not agree to the conduction of a referendum in Nagorno Karabakh, as it will lead to the loss of the Azeri territories", former advisor to Azerbaijani President, political scientist Vafa Guluzade stated. In his words, the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs have assumed anti-Azerbaijani position and their proposal have remained unchangeable during the recent 10 years. "The OSCE Minsk Group proposes Azerbaijan to resign to the loss of territories and make manifest concessions in favor of Armenia. One of them is the signing of the agreement on conduction of a referendum in Nagorno Karabakh", Guluzade noted. He also expressed opinion that the mediators "simply resorted to cunning" when proposing to hold the referendum in Karabakh not immediately after the return of the territories but in some 10 years. "The last census of population in Nagorno Karabakh held during the soviet period showed that the number of Armenians exceeded the number of Azeris", Guluzade reminded. "The referendum would mean mechanical separation of a part of Azeri territory, what is inadmissible. Such step is equal to high treason", he stressed, Mediamax reports.