AZERBAIJAN QUESTIONS US ROLE IN KARABAKH PEACE TALKS

Voice of America
April 15 2010

Azerbaijan is publicly questioning the neutrality of U.S. mediators
engaged in negotiations to end the bitter and once violent standoff
over a breakaway Armenian enclave inside Azerbaijan.

Ali Hasanov, a top political advisor to President Ilham Aliyev, says
the Baku government is not happy with U.S. efforts to broker a peace
agreement ending the long-standing conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh.

Hassan spoke Wednesday in the Azerbaijani capital, Baku. He said U.S.
negotiators are seen in his country as influenced by what he called
the Armenian lobby.

U.S. officials have not commented on the accusation.

Backed by the Yerevan government, ethnic Armenians seized control
of Nagorno-Karabakh from Azerbaijan in the early 1990s. The conflict
has claimed 35,000 lives and left more than 1 million others homeless.

The United States, France and Russia comprise the so-called Minsk
Group, which is trying to negotiate a peace settlement.

Although major fighting subsided after a 1994 cease-fire, Armenia and
Azerbaijan continue to accuse each other of violating the pact. There
are regular reports of sniper fire in and near the enclave.