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Saturday, 18 May 2002
AZERBAIJANI OPPOSITION PARTIES CALL FOR EXPULSION OF PKK
By empty (5/18/2002 issue of the CACI Analyst)
Six Azerbaijani opposition parties -- AMIP, the reformist wing of the Azerbaijan Popular Front Party, Adalet, the Liberal Party of Azerbaijan, and the Progress and Civic Solidarity parties – have addressed a statement to Azerbaijan\'s parliament and law enforcement agencies calling for urgent measures to prevent the banned Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) from operating from bases in Lachin. Lachin lies between the western border of the unrecognized Nagorno-Karabakh Republic and the Armenian-Azerbaijani border, and has been under Armenian control for the past decade. The opposition statement condemns the government\'s failure to take action against the PKK, whose presence on occupied Azerbaijani territory it terms a blow to the country\'s sovereignty and territorial integrity and a \"serious threat\" to the planned Baku-Ceyhan oil pipeline and the Baku-Tbilisi Erzerum gas pipeline.
Six Azerbaijani opposition parties -- AMIP, the reformist wing of the Azerbaijan Popular Front Party, Adalet, the Liberal Party of Azerbaijan, and the Progress and Civic Solidarity parties – have addressed a statement to Azerbaijan\'s parliament and law enforcement agencies calling for urgent measures to prevent the banned Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) from operating from bases in Lachin. Lachin lies between the western border of the unrecognized Nagorno-Karabakh Republic and the Armenian-Azerbaijani border, and has been under Armenian control for the past decade. The opposition statement condemns the government\'s failure to take action against the PKK, whose presence on occupied Azerbaijani territory it terms a blow to the country\'s sovereignty and territorial integrity and a \"serious threat\" to the planned Baku-Ceyhan oil pipeline and the Baku-Tbilisi Erzerum gas pipeline. Turkey has repeatedly accused Armenia of hosting PKK bases on its territory. (Turan)