Opposition news

ADP PLANS ON NEW RALLIES

The political council of the Azerbaijan Democratic Party (ADP) decided in a meeting on Tuesday to launch a series of rallies in late September. The first such rally has been scheduled for September 29 in protest to human right abuses, social problems and the unresolved Garabagh conflict. A request for the sanction will be sent to Mayor's office Wednesday, a member of the political council Natiq Gojayev told AssA-Irada Tuesday.

DEMCONGRESS-2 DEMANDS PROMPT MEASURES

DemCongress-2 adopted a statement over the situation in the army last week. The document says that most of the fatalities in the army were of suicide nature, which illustrates the psychological crisis in the military, rampant corruption and arbitrariness in the army. DemCongress-2 is urging the authorities to heed due attention to the problems in the Army and hold the guilty accountable.

POLITICIAN DOESN'T RULE OUT MILITARY OPTION

The Civil Unity Party (CUP) has released a statement by the party's first deputy chairman Nadir Guliyev following a recent comment by the US Assistant Secretary of State Elizabeth Jones in Yerevan that the Garabagh problem must not be resolved in a military way.

Mr. Guliyev stated that solution to the Garabagh issue should be based only on the will of the Azerbaijan people. "If USA insists on a negotiated settlement only, it has to make Armenia unconditionally withdraw from the occupied Azeri territories. If the talks yield no fruit, the people of Azerbaijan will have to liberate their lands by force", he said.

ISLAMIC PARTY, PRO-AZERBAIJAN FORCES CONDEMNED

The Turkic Nationalistic Party (TNP) has vehemently condemned the statements by the Azerbaijan Islamic Party and the Union of Pro-Azerbaijan Forces (UAF) and urged the law-enforcement to bring them to account for the counter-national position, TNP said in a statement Friday.

The statement says that the first deputy chairman of the Islamic Party Haji Nuriyev expressed his concerns with Azerbaijan's rapprochement with Turkey, US and Israel, a protest to the potential stationing of Nato and Turkish military units in Azerbaijan and the switch for Latin script.

TURKIC NATIONALISTS DEMAND RUSSIA TO STOP ARMING IRAN

The Turkish Nationalistic Party (TNP) issued a statement Tuesday concerning Iran's recent purchase of a large portion of Russian arms. The statement says that this is not an internal affair as Iran's armament and aspiration to become a nuclear power in 2005 poses a threat to the region, including Azerbaijan. TNP urges the authorities to respond to the arms sales.