AZERI FM SET TO ATTEND NEXT ROUND OF TALKS ON BREAKAWAY KARABAKH
RIA Novosti, Russia
Jan 10 2006
BAKU, January 10 (RIA Novosti) – Azerbaijan’s foreign minister will
participate in the next round of negotiations with the Armenian
foreign minister on the breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh, a
Foreign Ministry spokesman said Wednesday.
The conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh, which lies within Azerbaijan,
some 270 kilometers (170 miles) west of the capital Baku, first
erupted in 1988 when it declared its independence from Azerbaijan,
and moved to join Armenia.
Over 30,000 people were killed on both sides in fighting between 1988
and 1994, and over 100 died following a 1994 ceasefire.
Nagorno-Karabakh remains under Armenian military control, and tensions
between Azerbaijan and Armenia have persisted as a result.
The meeting between Azerbaijan’s FM Elmar Mamedyarov and Armenia’s
Vardan Oskaryan is scheduled for January 23 in Moscow.
Residents of Nagorno-Karabakh overwhelmingly voted in a referendum on
the republic’s Constitution last month to reaffirm the predominantly
Armenian region’s independence from Azerbaijan.
More than 100 international observers and journalists from Russia,
France, the United States, Italy, Israel, Serbia and other countries
monitored the referendum.
Azerbaijan dismissed the referendum as a farce.
The United States, the European Union and other international
organizations, including the Organization for Security and Cooperation
in Europe (OSCE), said no country will recognize the referendum’s
results.
The Azerbaijani leadership is determined to restore its control over
the separatist region.