BAKU CRITICIZES INTL GROUPS INDIFFERENCE TO CEASEFIRE BREACHES

Assa-Irada
March 11 2008
Azerbaijan

The Azerbaijani government has expressed discontent over the
international groups failure to adequately react topersistent Armenian
ceasefire breaches. Unfortunately, once again we did not witness
a fair reaction of internationalorganizations to the attacks being
committed on Azerbaijani territories, the Foreign Ministry spokesman
Khazar Ibrahim said. Armenian armed forces breached ceasefire in the
frontline Terter and Goranboy districts on March 4.

FourAzerbaijani soldiers were killed and one was injured. 12
Armenian soldiers died and 15 others were heavily injuredduring the
skirmishes. The latest clashes were the worst fighting seen in the
region in years. Ibrahim said that if the Armenian sides attempts to
take similar actions persist, this could adversely affect talks on
settling thelong-standing conflict over Upper (Nagorno) Garabagh. He
termed the latest ceasefire violations as a step taken by thecountrys
leaders to divert international attention from the political crisis
inside Armenia. The protests in thecapital Yerevan following the
February 19 presidential election were marred by clashes between law
enforcers andprotesters who charged electoral fraud. The conflict
between the two South Caucasus republics reared up in the late1980s
due to Armenias territorial claims. Armenia has been occupying over
20% of Azerbaijansinternationally-recognized territory since the early
1990s. The ceasefire accord was signed in May 1994, but over adecade of
efforts by US, Russian and French mediators have been fruitless so far.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress