UK Ambassador to Azerbaijan suggests referendum in Karabakh, shocks Baku

UK Ambassador to Azerbaijan suggests referendum in Karabakh, shocks Baku –

The Ambassador of the Great Britain to Azerbaijan Irfan Siddiq stated that the future status of the Nagorno Karabakh should be defined through a referendum. Armenpress and Panarmenian report, citing the information website haqqin.az that the British Ambassador to Azerbaijan has delivered a lecture titled “Politics and Political Culture of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland” at Khazar University in Baku.

He stated that Scotland will hold a referendum to be independent from the United Kingdom. As for the debates on the separation of Scotland from the UK and the Nagorno Karabakh conflict, the diplomat said that in the next 6 months we will have a lot of debates about it: “What is happening in the UK is interesting. Lots of people don’t want to be in the UK. Rather than war, we will have a referendum. Solution for determination of the future status of Nagorno Karabakh has to be a referendum’.

“This seems like a logical compromise to determine the country’s status,” the envoy concluded, leaving the audience “perplexed.”

The website Haqqin.az slammed the ambassador’s statement, labeling the parallel he drew between the issues in Scotland and Karabakh as “improper.” “Can’t the envoy realize that the results of a referendum in mono-ethnic Karabakh are easily predictable? Doesn’t he see a difference between the two non-similar problems?” the website questioned.

A referendum on whether Scotland should be an independent country and leave the United Kingdom will take place on September 18, 2014. Following an agreement between the Scottish Government and the United Kingdom Government, the Scottish Independence Referendum Bill, setting out the arrangements for this referendum, was put forward on March 21, 2013, passed by the Scottish Parliament on November 14, 2013 and received Royal Assent on December 17, 2013. The question to be asked in the referendum will be “Should Scotland be an independent country?” as recommended by the Electoral Commission.