EU REFUSES TO RECOGNISE NAGORNY KARABAKH VOTE

Agence France Presse — English
December 11, 2006 Monday 1:54 PM GMT

The European Union on Monday said it did not recognise a constitutional
referendum held in the breakaway region of Nagorny Karabakh in the
former Soviet republic of Azerbaijan.

In a statement released by the Finnish presidency of the bloc, the
EU said it "recognises neither the "referendum" nor its outcome."

The EU also repeated its position that it did not recognise the
independence of the Nagorny Karabakh enclave.

The region of Azerbaijan is populated by 140,000 people, a majority
of whom are Armenian.

"The EU considers that conducting such a "referendum", thus
pre-empting the outcome of the ongoing negotiations, did not
contribute to constructive efforts at peaceful conflict resolution,"
the statement said.

"It calls on all parties to the conflict to intensify their efforts
to find a negotiated solution to the conflict," the EU added.

Some 98.6 percent of votes cast in Sunday’s poll approved a
constitution declaring Nagorny Karabakh an independent state.

The enclave first declared itself independent in 1991. Its break from
Azerbaijan precipitated a full-blown war between fellow former Soviet
republics Armenia and Azerbaijan, claiming some 25,000 lives before
ending with a ceasefire in 1994.

Years of negotiations have failed to resolve the dispute between
Azerbaijan and the Nagorny Karabakh separatists, who are closely
backed by Armenia.

Efforts to reach a permanent resolution to the conflict are currently
headed by the Minsk Group under the auspices of the Organisation for
Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE).

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress