DISPUTED NAGORNO-KARABAKH TERRITORY VOTES FOR NEW PRESIDENT
The Associated Press
International Herald Tribune, France
July 19 2007
YEREVAN, Armenia: The Armenian-controlled breakaway region of
Nagorno-Karabakh held a presidential election Thursday amid a
rumbling dispute with Azerbaijan over the mountainous territory,
whose independence claims are not internationally recognized.
Pollsters and analysts said former security chief Bako Saakian had
the strongest chance to succeed the incumbent Arkady Gukasian, who
is ineligible to run after two five-year terms in office.
Saakian, 47, headed Nagorno-Karabakh’s security service since 2001,
resigning in June to stand in the election. He is running as an
independent and is backed by the Armenian government in Yerevan.
It was the fourth presidential election in the impoverished territory
inside Azerbaijan that has been controlled by Armenian and ethnic
Armenian forces since a shaky 1994 cease-fire ended one of the
bloodiest conflicts that followed the Soviet collapse.
The six-year war killed 30,000 people and drove more than 1 million
from their homes, including many of the region’s ethnic Azeris.
Today, it remains one of the region’s "frozen" conflicts.
Azerbaijan has rejected the vote as illegitimate. Azerbaijan and
Armenia remain locked in a dispute over Nagorno-Karabakh despite
more than a decade of coaxing from international mediators led by
the United States, Russia and France to resolve the region’s status.
No country has recognized the independence of the mostly agricultural
region of 146,000 people, which has faced a steady brain drain and
dire economic problems despite financial aid from Armenia and the
Armenian diaspora.
Saakian has said that international recognition of Kosovo
as an independent state would pave the way for acceptance of
Nagorno-Karabakh’s sovereignity.
More than three-quarters of the territory’s 92,000 voters cast ballots,
Central Election Commission chief Sergei Nasibian said.
Preliminary results were expected Friday.