Azerbaijan urges UN intervention

tvnz.co.nz
Nov 24, 2004

Azerbaijan urged the UN General Assembly to intervene in a long and
bitter territorial dispute with neighboring Armenia over its breakaway
Nagorno-Karabakh region.

But France, Russia and the United States, which have been trying to
resolve the dispute on behalf of the Organization for Security and
Cooperation in Europe, asked the assembly to stay on the sidelines
and not interfere with their efforts.

Talks “can only progress in an atmosphere of confidence between
the parties. Anything in the direction of building confidence and
of avoiding a division of the General Assembly is helpful,” said
U.S. envoy Susan Moore, speaking on behalf of the OSCE initiative
led by Paris, Moscow and Washington.

Rival claims have hung for years over tiny, mountainous
Nagorno-Karabakh, a mainly ethnic Armenian enclave inside Azerbaijan.

Azerbaijan suffered a humiliating defeat in a 1988-94 war with Armenia
over the region after its inhabitants tried to break from Azeri rule.

An estimated 35,000 people were killed and one million refugees fled
to Azerbaijan, where they remain. At the same time, thousands of
ethnic Armenian refugees fled to Armenia.

A cease-fire ended the conflict but the dispute persists despite
international efforts to broker a deal.

Azerbaijan’s foreign minister, Elmar Mammadyarov, said his government
had decided to take the issue to the General Assembly because Armenia
was pursuing an “illegal settlement policy” by flooding the disputed
area with Armenians, with an eye to annexing the enclave.

He called on the assembly to adopt a resolution affirming its
“continued strong support” for Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity
and the right of Azeri refugees to return to their former homes in
the enclave.

But Armenian Ambassador Armen Martirosyan said Azerbaijan’s proposal
was aimed at torpedoing the OSCE-sponsored negotiations.

The assembly put off a vote on the draft resolution until an
unspecified later date.