COMMUNITY HEAD: REFERENDUM IN NAGORNO-KARABAKH IS POSSIBLE ONLY AFTER RETURN OF AZERBAIJANI COMMUNITY TO REGION

Trend
Feb 15 2010
Azerbaijan

Referendum in the Nagorno-Karabakh can be held only after the
return of IDPs, Head of the Azerbaijani community of Azerbaijan’s
Nagorno-Karabakh regionBayram Safarov said.

"Ordinary Armenians living in the Nagorno-Karabakh want the
Azerbaijanis to return there," he told journalists following the
meeting with OSCE Chairman Kanat Saudabayev who is on an official visit
Baku. "They are supporters of cohabitation in the Nagorno-Karabakh
region."

The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988
when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. Armenian
armed forces have occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan since 1992,
including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and 7 surrounding districts.

Azerbaijan and Armenia signed a ceasefire agreement in 1994. The
co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group – Russia, France, and the U.S. –
are currently holding the peace negotiations.

Armenia has not yet implemented the U.N. Security Council’s four
resolutions on the liberation of the Nagorno-Karabakh region and the
occupied territories.

According to Safarov, given Azerbaijan’s economic power, ordinary
Armenians do not wish to hold a referendum.

Safarov noted that this first meeting with OSCE Chairman-in and hoped
for the return of Azerbaijanis in the Nagorno-Karabakh.

He also brought to the country’s position, which consists in the fact
that the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict can be resolved solely on the basis
of the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan, to Saudabayev’s attention.

Saudabayev is on official visit to Azerbaijan from Feb.14.