Azerbaijanis Reject the Commonwealth
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MOSCOW — Azerbaijan’s Parliament on Wednesday overwhelmingly rejected membership in the Commonwealth of Independent States, Russia’s Itar-Tass news agency said.
The vote came two days before Commonwealth heads of state meet in the Kyrgyzstan capital of Bishkek to try to put to rest doubts about the future of the alliance, plagued since its inception by economic, political and military disputes.
The Azerbaijani news agency Assa-Irada quoted President Abulfez Elchibey as telling deputies that Azerbaijan could not join the organization grouping most former Soviet republics while the country is in a state of war with another Commonwealth member, Armenia.
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