International Herald Tribune, France
Dec 1 2006
Official: Armenia and Azerbaijan discussing terms of Nagorno-Karabakh
referendum
The Associated Press
Published: December 1, 2006
YEREVAN, Armenia: Armenia and Azerbaijan are discussing terms of
holding a referendum on the status of the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh
region, Armenia’s foreign minister said Friday.
Nagorno-Karabakh, a mountainous region in Azerbaijan, has been under
control of Armenian and ethnic Armenian Karabakh forces since the
1994 end of a separatist war.
Years of negotiation have produced little visible sign of progress in
resolving the dispute, which prompted Azerbaijan to close its borders
with Armenia. But the presidents of both countries said this week
that significant progress has been made.
Armenian foreign minister Vardan Oksanian said that the question of
whether the region could be autonomous within Azerbaijan was a key
issue in negotiations.
"A resolution to this problem can be found only by a referendum, a
proposal for which is contained in the document that the sides are
discussing."
He said the referendum was proposed to take place "on the territory
of Nagorno-Karabakh, with people who live there and lived there
taking part."
Nagorno-Karabakh’s ethnic Azeri population fled the conflict more
than a decade ago and large numbers of them have lived as internally
displaced people since then.