NEIGHBOURS ARMENIA, AZERBAIJAN TRADE ACCUSATIONS

Agence France Presse — English
March 7, 2006 Tuesday 4:36 PM GMT

Baku

Azerbaijan accused neighbouring Armenia Tuesday of breaching a
ceasefire in the disputed territory of Nagorno-Karabakh and causing
the death of an Azeri soldier, in the latest round of feuding between
the rivals.

Armenia quickly denied the charge and responded with
counter-accusations that Azeri troops had killed an Armenian soldier
last week.

The Azeri defence ministry said Armenian soldiers had opened fire
early Tuesday. A second soldier was said to be seriously wounded.

Nagorno-Karabakh, the focus the dispute, is a largely Armenian
populated enclave on Azeri territory. When the two former Soviet
republics became independent, they fought a war over the region that
claimed around 25,000 lives and displaced hundreds of thousands.

It ended in a tense ceasefire in 1994 with Armenian forces in control
of most of the enclave and seven surrounding Azerbaijani regions,
but Karabakh’s status remains unresolved.

The Armenian side quickly denied Tuesday’s accusation.

“The information from Azerbaijan about the death of a soldier does
not correspond to the facts,” a spokesman for the defence force in
Karabakh told AFP. “We are also tired of Armenia’s periodic violations
of the ceasefire.”

The Armenian defence ministry in Yerevan had previously issued a
statement saying Azeri forces had opened fire on March 3 in the
direction of northern Armenia causing head wounds to a 19 year-old
soldier who had later died in hospital.

The Armenian ministry claimed Azerbaijan had violated the ceasefire
on March 4,5,6 and 7.

Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev said last week talks on Nagorno
Karabakh enclave were at a dead end and signalled that his country
should prepare for renewed war with Armenia.

“The Armenian side is stalling for time and the fact that the
negotiating process has reached a dead end is the fault of the Armenian
side,” Aliyev said.

“We are the victimized party and this gives us the right to resolve
the issue by any means. We must get ready and the population must be
mobilized,” Aliyev said.