Trend News Agency, Azerbaijan
Feb. 23, 2008

No Connections between Recognition of Kosovo’s Independence and
Nagorno-Karabakh Conflict: Head of OSCE PA
23.02.08 13:58

Austria, Vienna, 23 February /corr. Trend News A.Aleskerov / There
are no connections between the internationally recognition of
Kosovo’s independence and the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, said the
President of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly, Goran Lennmarker.
`Kosovo case is judged on its own merits, Nagorno-Karabakh will be
decided on its own merits,’ Goran Lennmarker, who is OSCE’s
rapporteur on Armenian-Azerbaijani Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, said in
an interview with Trend News.

Since the Parliament of Kosovo unanimously ratified the declaration
on its independence, the countries with on-going conflicts emerging
>From separatism apprehend that recognition of the independence of
Kosovo may become a precedent for their integrity. The
Nagorno-Karabakh region of Azerbaijan and its seven surrounding
regions were occupied by Armenia when the USSR was collapsing. The
region declared its will to get independence, which contradicts with
the territorial integrity international principals.

Lennmarker considers that the presidential elections in Armenia and
the new elected president of Armenia will fetch usefulness as for the
resolution of this conflict. He emphasized the importance and
enormous prospects waiting for involved two countries after an
agreement.

Lennmarker said that the main topic of the negotiations during the
visit of him and the OSCE Chairman-in-Office Ilkka Kanerva to Armenia
and Azerbaijan at the end of February is going to be the settlement
of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

The conflict between the two countries of the South Caucasus began in
1988 due to Armenian territorial claims against Azerbaijan. Since
1992, Armenian Armed Forces have occupied 20% of Azerbaijan including
the Nagorno-Karabakh region and its seven surrounding districts. In
1994, Azerbaijan and Armenia signed a ceasefire agreement at which
time the active hostilities ended. The Co-Chairs of the OSCE Minsk
Group ( Russia, France, and the US) are currently holding peaceful
negotiations.

Before being elected the President of Armenia, former Prime Minister
Serzh Sargsyan had said to Reuters that recognizing of Kosovo’s
independence by the international community will give more arguments
to the supporters of the independence of Nagorno-Karabakh, which
Azerbaijan is seeking to return.

Since 1999 Kosovo region, which is formally a part of Serbia, has
been controlled by the UN. On 17 February the Parliament of Kosovo
unanimously ratified the declaration on its independence. Some 30
countries, including the EU, USA, Germany, France, recognized
Kosovo’s independence. Belgrade described the declaration invalid and
called on the international community to cancel it for contracting
with the international law. Russia stated that it is not going to
recognize Kosovo’s self-proclaimed independence. Moreover, Russian
insists on an annulment of the decision of independence.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress