US CONCERNED ABOUT FIGHTING IN NAGORNO-KARABAKH
By David Gollust

Voice of America
March 5 2008

The United States Wednesday expressed concern about this week’s
outbreak of fighting between Azerbaijani and Armenian soldiers
near the disputed Armenian-held territory of Nagorno-Karabakh. A
senior U.S. envoy is in the region discussing the issue with Azeri
and Armenian officials. VOA’s David Gollust reports from the State
Department.

The Nagorno-Karabakh fighting is described as the most serious of
its kind in several years and it has prompted an appeal for restraint
from the State Department, which says there is no military solution
to the issue.

Azerbaijan and Armenia are blaming each other for the clash, which
broke out Tuesday along the cease-fire line in the disputed region,
and reportedly killed four Azerbaijani and 12 Armenian soldiers.

Officials said Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for European Affairs
Matthew Bryza – ordered to the region earlier this week because of
post-election political unrest in Armenia – has also been discussing
Nagorno-Karabakh with the two parties.

Tom Casey (file photo) In a talk with reporters, State Department
deputy spokesman Tom Casey said the United States is concerned by
the violence and wants to see that Tuesday’s incident is not repeated:

"Clearly all this does is show the need for the parties to engage
with the Minsk Group chairs, and work on resolving this conflict,"
said Tom Casey. "I know it’s one that’s been out there for a long time,
but there is absolutely no military solution to this issue.

It’s one that has to be dealt with through a diplomatic process."

Nagorno-Karabakh, an ethnic-Armenian enclave in Azerbaijan, declared
independence in 1988, triggering a six-year conflict that claimed
35,000 lives.

The Minsk Group, chaired by France, Russia and the United States,
was created in 1992 and since then has been leading diplomatic efforts
to settle the conflict.

Armenia has accused Azerbaijan of taking advantage of its election
crisis to foment the latest trouble.

Azerbaijan, meanwhile, alleges that militant ethnic-Armenians in
Nagorno-Karbakh have been encouraged by international recognition of
Serbia’s breakaway former province, Kosovo.

Asked about that comparison, State Department spokesman Casey said
majority-ethnic Albanian Kosovo, a scene of ethnic cleansing by Serb
forces a decade ago, was a unique situation:

"Its status was managed under a specific U.N. Security Council
resolution, with an understanding in that resolution that final
status was something that was going to be decided by the international
community at an appropriate time," he said. "And that’s where we are
now. Kosovo is not a precedent and should be seen as a precedent for
any other place out there in the world. It certainly isn’t a precedent
for Nagorno-Karabakh."

Casey said U.S. envoy Bryza began his mission in Baku with talks with
Azerbaijani officials and was due in the Armenian capital Yerevan
on Friday. He said Bryza has already discussed the Nagorno-Karabakh
situation in a telephone call to Armenia’s foreign minister, Vardan
Oskanian.
From: Baghdasarian