Reuters, UK
March 14 2008
UN assembly tells Armenia to get out of Azerbaijan
Fri Mar 14, 2008 5:48pm EDT
By Louis Charbonneau
UNITED NATIONS, March 14 (Reuters) – The U.N. General Assembly on
Friday demanded that Armenian forces withdraw from all occupied
territories in Azerbaijan, but key mediators in the Azeri-Armenia
dispute rejected the non-binding resolution.
In an Azeri-drafted resolution, the assembly called for "the
immediate, complete and unconditional withdrawal from all the
occupied territories of the Republic of Azerbaijan."
Although the largely symbolic resolution was adopted, only 39 out of
192 members of the U.N. General Assembly voted for it. Seven
countries, including Armenia, the United States, France and Russia,
voted against it.
There were 100 abstentions and many other countries chose not to
participate in the vote, which Western diplomats said was a
reflection of the fact that most people felt the Azeri resolution was
not a balanced picture of the problem.
"This resolution was not helpful," said a diplomat from one of the
three co-chairs of the Minsk Group — Russia, the United States and
France.
The Minsk Group is a committee of countries working to bring about a
peaceful resolution of the disagreement over Nagorno-Karabakh, the
disputed Caucasus mountain enclave. The group was established by the
Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) in 1992.
A U.S. statement on the resolution said the three Minsk Group
co-chairs all voted against the resolution because they agreed it
represented a "unilateral" view of the dispute.
European Union president Slovenia issued a statement that said the
Minsk Group should continue to deal with the issue.
"The EU calls on the parties concerned to avoid any actions which
could lead to heightened tensions and which could undermine the
ongoing mediation efforts," it said.
Last week Azeri President Ilham Aliyev said Kosovo’s newly declared
independence from Serbia had emboldened Armenian separatists in
Azerbaijan’s mountainous enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh.
Both Armenia and Azerbaijan have accused each other of stoking the
recent violence there. (Editing by Eric Walsh)