UNRECOGNIZED ELECTIONS IN NAGORNO-KARABAKH
Sercan Salgin

Journal of Turkish Weekly, Turkey
Aug 2 2007

On 19th July, presidential elections were held in Nagorno-Karabakh,
the Azerbaijani territory occupied by Armenia and not recognized by
the world community- in which 91 thousand electorates voted for 5
candidates. The favorite of the pre-election polls was Bako Saakyan
and his closest rival was Masis Mailyan, the ex-vice foreign minister.

As predicted, Saakyan won the elections with 85% of the votes. Baku
and Ankara castigated the elections and did not recognize. Also the US,
officially declared that they do not recognize elections and Karabakh
as an independent state.

The elections are assumed to be a part of the unilateral legitimization
of the December 2006 Constitutional reform, which is violation of
the international law, and also the recognition. Many countries,
leading Azerbaijan, the US and Turkey, declared that they would not
recognize the elections.

Also, the president of European Council Parliamentary Assembly Rene
van der Linden declared before the elections that, elections in
Nagorno-Karabakh, under Armenian occupation, would not be recognized
by international community. Rene van der Linden had been in Yerevan
as a part of his Caucasus region visit and talked about the election.

He emphasized that the international community would not recognize
the elections. He mentioned that Armenia could not make any progress
in its regional relations and added that European Council wishes
to contribute to the solution of Nagorno-Karabakh dispute and the
stability of the region.

In pre-election period, another declaration came from Turkish Foreign
Ministry. According to the announcement of the ministry, Turkey would
not recognize the election results that are not binding in the context
of international law. Turkey interpreted elections as a unilateral
legitimization act and believed that it was also the violation of
the principles of international law, UN Security Council decisions
and principles of OSCE.