OSCE’S MINSK GROUP CONDEMNS NAGORNY KARABAKH VOTE

Agence France Presse — English
December 11, 2006 Monday 6:46 PM GMT

The OSCE Minsk Group on Monday condemned a constitutional referendum
held in Azerbaijan’s breakaway region of Nagorny Karabakh as
"unhelpful."

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

"Conducting such a referendum now… is particularly unhelpful at a
moment when the OSCE Minsk Group-mediated negotiations between Armenia
and Azerbaijan appear to be on a constructive path," the group said
in a statement received in Vienna.

The Minsk Group, under the auspices of the Organization for Security
and Cooperation in Europe, is heading efforts to reach a permanent
resolution to a conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan over the
breakaway region.

The enclave first declared itself independent in 1991, precipitating
a full-blown war between former fellow 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 Armenian-backed Nagorny Karabakh separatists.

The three co-chairs of the Minsk Group — France, Russia and the
United States — added however that "the results of this referendum,
which are not internationally recognized, will have no negative effect
on continuing prospects for an agreement between the sides on basic
principles for the settlement of the conflict."

In another statement on Monday, the OSCE chairman, Belgian Foreign
Minister Karel De Gucht, called the referendum "counter-productive,"
adding: "No member of the international community recognizes the
so-called Nagorno-Karabach republic as an independent state."