According to poll results, 0.8% of respondents in Azerbaijan are for Nagorno-Karabakh’s independence. “Let them live as they like,” they said. 1news.az reported that the poll was conducted by the PULS organization under a project implemented with the sponsorship of the Friedrich Ebert Foundation (Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung, FES) and involved 1,000 Azerbaijani citizens.

70.4% of the respondents are against any compromise over Nagorno-Karabakh’s final status as a result of peaceful settlement of the conflict (59.4% in Jan 2007), 8.9% of the respondents are for granting Nagorno-Karabakh a cultural autonomy and local government, and 5.7% for an autonomy similar to that of Nakhichevan. Only 9.5% of the respondents are for a referendum in Nagorno-Karabakh provided Azerbaijani refugees return to Nagorno-Karabakh.

As regards the immediate prospects for the Nagorno-Karabakh problem, 42.5% of the respondents said the “neither war nor peace” situation will continue; 40.7% believe in progress in the peace process; 15.7% think hostilities will be resumed.

On the threshold of parliamentary elections in Nagorno-Karabakh, the Sociometer center held a poll, which showed that 84.4% were against any compromise over Nagorno-Karabakh, and 93% of the respondents were against the return of Nagorno-Karabakh to Azerbaijan.

T.P.