NAGORNY KARABAKH BACKS CONSTITUTION
The Moscow Times, Russia
Dec 12 2006
YEREVAN, Armenia — The breakaway Nagorny Karabakh region
overwhelmingly approved a new pro-independence constitution, returns
from a Sunday referendum showed.
Azerbaijan shrugged off the vote as a "farce," and the European Union
said it would not recognize it. The region broke away from Azerbaijan
in the early 1990’s and has no international recognition.
But Karabakh’s leader described the plebiscite, seen as a signal of
the region’s commitment to independence, as a factor which could help
revive languishing talks on its future status.
Karabakh wants to be part of the talks underway between Armenia and
Azerbaijan over the status of the region.
According to official figures released Monday by the Karabakh elections
commission, 98.6 percent of voters approved the constitution, which
describes Karabakh as a sovereign state.