KOSOVO — "AN EXAMPLE" FOR SEPARATIST KARABAKH

Reuters, UK
July 18 2007

More STEPANAKERT, Azerbaijan, July 17 (Reuters) – International
recognition of Kosovo as an independent state would give new impetus
to the sovereignty claim of Azerbaijan’s breakaway Nagorno-Karabakh,
a senior separatist said on Tuesday.

Those opposing independence being granted to Serbia’s province
of Kosovo say it will set a legal precedent that could re-ignite
separatist disputes elsewhere, especially in the former Soviet Union,
scene of four unresolved "frozen conflicts."

"The Kosovo model of conflict settlement could be an example for the
resolution of other conflicts," Nagorno Karabakh’s separatist minister
Masis Mailyan told Reuters in an interview.

"If it (Kosovo) is recognised, then it is interesting to me in that
an unrecognised country has won recognition in spite of the opinion
of its former sovereign rulers."

"In this sense the Kosovo model is an interesting one for us. That
is to say, we could achieve recognition under a new scenario."

Russia is blocking a Western-backed proposal to set Kosovo on the
path to independence, citing the fact that Belgrade does not want to
relinquish sovereignty over its province.

Kosovo’s Albanian majority has warned that could force it into a
unilateral declaration of independence. If this happens, the United
States and some European states have indicated they may recognise
Kosovo as a sovereign state.

Nagorno-Karabakh’s fight to split from Azerbaijan was the bloodiest
of the former Soviet Union’s separatist wars, with about 35,000 people
killed and over a million forced to flee their homes.

The ethnic Armenian majority drove out Azerbaijan’s forces and now
runs its own affairs with support from neighbouring Armenia, but no
state has recognised the region’s independence.

Mailyan said Nagorno-Karabakh would keep pursuing a negotiated
settlement with Azerbaijan in the hope that would lead to international
recognition. Peace talks lasting more than 15 years have failed to
make significant progress.

But he said recognition for Kosovo would encourage Nagorno-Karabakh
to pursue a second track, to lobby foreign states and international
organisations to grant it recognition with or without Azerbaijan’s
consent.

Elsewhere in the former Soviet Union, separatists in Georgia’s
South Ossetia and Abkhazia regions, and in Moldova’s breakaway
Transdniestria, are also seeking international recognition and say
they are following developments in Kosovo with interest.