NAGORNO-KARABAKH VOTERS BACK INDEPENDENCE

Morning Star
December 12, 2006 Tuesday

Voters in Nagorno-Karabakh overwhelmingly supported a draft
constitution that describes the disputed territory, which is claimed
by Azerbaijan but controlled by ethnic Armenians, as a "sovereign,
democratic" state, officials said on Monday.

Preliminary results indicated that more than 98 per cent of voters
had backed the proposed constitution.

Nagorno-Karabakh is a region in Azerbaijan that has been controlled
by Armenian and ethnic-Armenian forces since a 1994 ceasefire.

A six-year separatist conflict killed about 30,000 people and displaced
about one million.

Azerbaijan, the European Union and the Organisation for Security and
Co-operation in Europe all rejected the referendum as invalid.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress