23:46, 13 January 2005

Azerbaijan opposition may unite

"I'm conducting negotiations with the leaders of the Musavat Party and the Azerbaijan Democratic Party. Both of them advocate creating a united bloc for the participation of Azerbaijan opposition parties in the parliamentary elections," chair of the Azerbaijan Popular Front Party (reformers) Ali Kerimli said to the Caucasian Knot correspondent. In his words, the international community will take the idea of uniting the opposition positively. "It's time for all democratic forces to unite and put an end to authoritarianism in Azerbaijan," Mr Kerimli underlined.

However, in the opinion of political scientist Mubariz Akhmedoglu, it is impossible to create a united opposition bloc in Azerbaijan. If the opposition did not manage to achieve its goal earlier, when it was much stronger, then we do not have to speak about it now at all.

Author: Zaur Rasulzade, CK correspondent