Nagorno-Karabakh dismisses Council of Europe’s warning

AP Worldstream
Aug 06, 2004

The Nagorno-Karabakh enclave on Friday bristled at the Council of
Europe’s advice to refrain from holding local elections, saying it
would run its own affairs.

Walter Schwimmer, the secretary general of the 45-nation Council, has
voiced regret that the enclave, that has broken off from Azerbaijan,
would hold municipal elections set for Sunday.

“One sided actions are counter-productive,” Schwimmer said in a
statement, adding that the status of Nagorno-Karabakh should should be
decided through talks.

The Nagorno-Karabakh authorities responded Friday, saying that they
need to have a full-fledged government. “We don’t think that the
international community and the European organizations in particular
would be interested in the absense of authority in Nagorno-Karabakh,”
they said in a statement.

Earlier this week, Nagorno-Karabakh launched a 10-day military
exercise that drew angry criticism from Azerbaijan, which said the
maneuvers could hamper the peace process.

The Armenian Foreign Ministry returned the criticism Friday, saying
that the “bellicose Azerbaijani statements” were fueling tensions.

Armenian-backed forces won control of Nagorno-Karabakh, a largely
ethnic Armenian enclave in Azerbaijan, in a 1988-94 war that killed
some 30,000 people and drove a million from their homes.

Despite a cease-fire, the two countries continue to face off across a
demilitarized zone, and shooting occasionally erupts. No final
settlement has been reached, and the conflict continues to aggravate
economic troubles and threaten unrest in Armenia and Azerbaijan.