ARMENIA AND AZERBAIJAN MOVE CLOSER TO DEAL ON ENCLAVE
Agence France Presse — English
September 6, 2005 Tuesday 3:38 PM GMT
Armenia and Azerbaijan are making progress on resolving their conflict
over the ethnic Armenian enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh, the head of
the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) said
in the Armenian capital Yerevan on Tuesday.
After meeting leaders of the two countries, OSCE President Dimitrij
Rupel told reporters there were “signs” an agreement could be reached
over the separatist enclave, which is completely surrounded by Azeri
territory.
Rupel said that in principle both nations took a “very similar”
position but he also sounded a note of caution. “On the level of
details there are still problems,” he said.
The OSCE president urged the hostile parties to try and “reach a
peaceful agreement”.
Nagorno-Karabakh was part of Armenia until 1923 when the Soviet leader
Josef Stalin ceded it to the republic of Azerbaijan and granted it
autonomy. Both Armenia and Azerbaijan had at the time been included
in the young Soviet Union.
Between 1988 and 1994, after the collapse of the Soviet state,
the two nations fought a bloody war over the disputed territory,
in which nearly 30,000 people died.
In 1991, Armenia won effective control of the region and declared
unilateral independance. Azerbaijan, however, wants to take back
control.
Azerbaijan claims about 20,000 Azeris have been exiled during the
conflict and nearly a million people displaced.