Agence France Presse
Jan 26 2005

Azerbaijan cheered by PACE resolution on Nagorno-Karabakh
AFP: 1/26/2005

BAKU, Jan 26 (AFP) – A strongly-worded resolution on Nagorno-Karabakh
from the Council of Europe will help lead to a settlement of the
decade-old dispute over the territory between Azerbaijan and Armenia,
Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev said Wednesday.

“This doesn`t mean that our territories will be freed immediately,
however it is an important political step towards their being freed,”
Aliyev said in televised remarks, referring to the resolution passed
Tuesday by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe
(PACE).

In some of the strongest language it has used to describe the 1990s
Nagorno-Karabakh war, the assembly said the conflict led to
“large-scale ethnic expulsion and the creation of mono-ethnic areas
which resemble the terrible concept of ethnic cleansing.”

An ethnic Armenian enclave that had a 25 percent Azeri population
before the conflict, Nagorno-Karabakh was the object of a war between
Armenia and Azerbaijan until 1994 when the active phase of the
conflict ended with Armenia in control of the territory inside
Azerbaijan`s borders.

It resulted in an uneasy truce with about a dozen soldiers along the
ceasefire line still killed each year by sniper fire and mines.

A 19-year-old Azeri soldier, Elhan Feizullayev, died along the
Azeri-Armenian ceasefire line Wednesday, Azerbaijan`s ANS television
reported.

“The resolution`s approval is a great victory for Azerbaijan. This
document has partially satisfied Azerbaijan`s interests… look at
Armenia`s reaction and you will see how it was defied,” Aliyev said.

In Yerevan, Armenia`s foreign ministry said the resolution was not
drafted objectively because of interference by the head of PACE`s
legislative committee, a citizen of Armenia`s other long-time
adversary, Turkey.

“Nevertheless we support the reaffirmation of a host of principles
which in particular affirm that independence and secession may only
be achieved through a lawful and peaceful process based on democratic
support by the inhabitants of that territory,” the foreign ministry
said its statement.

Azerbaijan`s foreign ministry hailed the PACE resolution.

“Azerbaijan has always considered the actions of Armenia to be a
typical example of ethnic cleansing… . Although the resolution does
not reflect this in a categorical way, it is still positive,” an
Azeri foreign ministry spokesman told AFP.

The PACE resolution urged the parties concerned to comply with UN
Security Council resolutions by refraining from any armed hostilities
and “by withdrawing military forces from any occupied territories”.

Azerbaijan`s foreign ministry said it viewed the passage of the PACE
non-binding resolution as a sign of the international community`s
keen interest in a resolution of the Karabakh conflict.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress