ISLAMIC BLOC CONDEMNS VOTE IN REBEL AZERI REGION OF KARABAKH

Agence France Presse — English
July 19, 2007 Thursday
Riyadh

The Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC) condemned Thursday the
presidential vote held in Azerbaijan’s breakaway Armenian-controlled
region of Nagorny Karabakh as a sign of Armenia’s "aggression"
against the Muslim country.

"The so-called ‘elections’ gravely violate relevant norms and
principles of international law… This act and its results therefore
have no legal effect," said OIC Secretary General Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu
in a statement.

"The OIC fully recognizes the sovereignty and territorial integrity
of the Republic of Azerbaijan," he said, adding that the world’s
largest Islamic body "once again strongly condemns the aggression of
the Republic of Armenia against the Republic of Azerbaijan."

Voters went to the polls Thursday in Nagorny Karabakh to elect a
new president for this isolated ethnic Armenian-controlled mountain
enclave.

Officials said they hoped the vote would shore up the region’s
democratic credentials, boosting its efforts to become an
internationally recognised country after 15 years of self-declared
independence following the messy break-up of the Soviet Union.

No country in the world recognises the independence of Karabakh and
the international community has ignored the vote.

Backed by their ethnic brethren in Armenia, separatists seized Karabakh
and seven surrounding regions from Azerbaijan in the early 1990s.

The OIC on Thursday urged an "immediate, complete and unconditional
withdrawal of Armenian occupying forces from the occupied territories
of Azerbaijan."