Azerbaijan against foreign investments in Karabakh
Public Television of Armenia, Yerevan
1 May 04
[Presenter] Azerbaijan is jealous of economic development in
Karabakh. The Azerbaijani press concerned by the impressing indicators
of the economic development in Artsakh [Karabakh] clarified that
foreign investments have played an important role in this work. Some
officials demanded clarification from those countries’ embassies whose
citizens are the Armenian businessmen engaged in business in Karabakh.
Bahar Muradova, MP of the Azerbaijani Milli Majlis, accused the
Diaspora Armenians, in violation of the Azerbaijani laws, in that they
must pay profit revenues to the Azerbaijani budget.
[Correspondent over video of Karabakh plants] The Azerbaijanis are
attentively following after the Nagornyy Karabakh economic
achievements and were very concerned by the recent results. Announcing
that the Artsakh Armenians have achieved 40 per cent GDP growth during
one year, as the Azerbaijani Zerkalo newspaper noted foreign
investments from various countries have played an important role in
this achievement. These are the USA, France, Switzerland, Australia,
Lebanon, Russia and neighbour Iran. The newspaper is writing about the
Sasun company which is producing polyethylene plastics, whose director
is the Iranian Armenian, Hovnan Avetyan. The Iranian Armenians are
also planning production of construction materials in Susa [Shusha]. A
correspondent of Zerkalo, in order to ask for clarification, called
the Iranian embassy in Baku. The Iranian ambassador noted that Tehran
is not keeping tabs on all its businessmen. But the Iranian
businessmen saw that the investments in Karabakh are very profitable
and therefore they are going to Karabakh.
The chairman of the Karabakh Liberation Organization, Akif Nagi,
announced that protest rallies will be soon staged outside the
embassies of those countries from which investments are flooding to
Nagornyy Karabakh. Akif Nagi also announced that protest rallies will
be staged against the Iranian companies in Baku. They will demand the
authorities to stop the activities of these companies. The deputy
executive secretary of the ruling New Azerbaijan party, Bahar Muradova
also defended Akif Nagi’s opinion. She called the investors’ moves a
violation of Azerbaijani territorial integrity. The Iranian and other
countries’ citizens must respect the law, she said. Neither Nagi nor
MP Muradova said that they in Azerbaijan will boycott the activity of
the American and European companies which are working with
Karabakh. If they did, then who would be working in Azerbaijan at all?
From: Baghdasarian