ANKARA DISMISSES DISPUTED VOTE IN NAGORNO-KARABAKH
EmÝne Kart Ankara
Today’s Zaman, Turkey
July 20 2007
An insistence on comparing the Armenian-occupied region of
Nagorno-Karabakh in Azerbaijan with the situation in Kosovo will not
help Yerevan legitimize the ongoing Armenian violation of Azerbai-jan’s
political unity, sovereignty and territorial integrity, a Turkish
diplomat told Today’s Zaman on Thursday.
Leading candidate Bako Saakyan casts his vote during the election in
the region of Nagorno-Karabakh.
The high-level criticism came as presidential elections — already
shunned by international organizations — were held on Thursday in
the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh. As well as Azerbaijan, which
lost control of Nagorno-Karabakh after a war in the early 1990s,
the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) also condemned
the elections as illegal under international law. No international
organizations were monitoring the vote, with NATO spokesman James
Appathurai saying, "Like other international organizations and
institutions, NATO does not recognize the so-called Nagorno-Karabakh
elections."
Speaking under condition of anonymity the same diplomat said: "Their
insistence on holding elections is a reflection of their intention to
consolidate the de facto situation and somehow legalize it by turning
it into a precedent while, on the other hand, the Organization
for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Minsk Process [to
reach a peaceful settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and
the Azerbaijani-Armenian dispute] is continuing." In addition, the
diplomat stressed that Ankara has been supporting the Minsk Process.
This is the fourth presidential election in the impoverished territory
since a shaky 1994 cease-fire ended one of the bloodiest conflicts that
followed the collapse of the Soviet Union. Many of the Azerbaijanis
fled during the fighting which claimed more than 35,000 lives before
the cease-fire, and the region is now populated almost entirely by
ethnic Armenians, who enjoy Christian Armenia’s backing.
As a consequence, Turkey shut its borders to Armenia in 1993 in protest
at the capture of the Nagorno-Karabakh region inside Azerbaijan by
Armenian forces during the conflict. In December 2006, a referendum
was held in the region by Armenia, the outcome of which backed the
independence of Nagorno-Karabakh.
Pointing out that the referendum was held while "ignoring
international law," Turkey formally announced it would not recognize
the outcome. Ankara believes that the presidential elections, and
likewise the December 2006 referendum, is in breach of international
law and disregards the will of the international community.
"Yerevan is insistently making an analogy between the Kosovo issue
and Nagorno-Karabakh, but the Kosovo draft resolution already says
that it doesn’t constitute a precedent for any issue," the Turkish
diplomat said. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has already said he
considers Kosovo a special situation which does not set a precedent
for Nagorno-Karabakh. Karabakh declared independence in the 1990s
but no other country has recognized this.
"What Armenia is doing by insisting on holding presidential
elections in the region is simply dancing to its own tune," the
diplomat said, while emphasizing that Ankara’s view and reactions
concerning developments in the region were in line with those from
the international community as both the European Union and Washington
were expected to announce — on Thursday night after Today’s Za-man
went into print — that they will not recognize the outcome of the
elections.
–Boundary_(ID_zvJycAGadOOVu2UsuNs ecQ)–