PRESSURE GROUP URGES AZERBAIJAN TO REVIEW TIES WITH US, RUSSIA, FRANCE
Azeri Press Agency
March 17 2008
Azerbaijan
An Azerbaijani pressure group has urged the government to review its
relations with the USA, Russia and France for their rejection of a
UN resolution that called for Armenian withdrawal from Azerbaijan’s
occupied territories, APA news agency reported.
The Karabakh Liberation Organization (KLO) said in a statement that
"the Azerbaijani government should take due note of the fact and
review its relations with the countries that maintained an unjust
position on the Karabakh issue".
The KLO also suggested that the Minsk Group of the OSCE, which
was created in 1992 to mediate a peaceful resolution of the
Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict, should cease operation.
The group has been co-chaired by the USA, Russia and France since 1997.
"From now on, there is no need for the activity of the OSCE Minsk
Group," APA quoted the statement as saying.
The UN General Assembly approved the resolution on 14 March demanding
that all Armenian forces pull out of Nagornyy Karabakh and surrounding
seven districts which were seized from Azerbaijan in the early 1990s.
All three co-chairs of the Minsk Group voted against the resolution,
as did Armenia and three other members of the General Assembly.
Thirty-nine countries voted for and 100 abstained.