KOSOVO – ‘AN EXAMPLE’ FOR NAGORNO-KARABAKH

The News – International, Pakistan
p?id=64991
July 19 2007

STEPANAKERT, Azerbaijan: 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.