Trend, Azerbaijan
May 27 2011

Chieftain of Association of Azerbaijani Cossacks: Regular Cossack
troops have never fought in Nagorno-Karabakh

Azerbaijan, Baku, May 27 /Trend, S.Agayeva/

Regular Cossack troops have never fought in Nagorno-Karabakh, said the
chieftain of Association of Azerbaijani Cossacks Victor Mereshkin.

“No representative of the regular Cossack troops has fought in
Nagorno-Karabakh,” Mereshkin told Trend, commenting on the Armenian
media reports that a monument will be established to the Kuban
Cossacks, who died in battle, in the occupied territories of Nagorno
Karabakh.

Mereshkin said the Armenians have established six monuments to the
Cossacks in Armenia at different times, but no representative of the
regular Cossack troops participated in their opening. “All of these
are an Armenian lie,” said Mereshkin.
Mereshkin said a so-called “Armenian-Russian Cossack Association”, led
by Mais Mirzoyan functions in Armenia, but no member of this structure
has Slavic surnames. “What are these Cossacks?” said the chieftain.

The chieftain of the Kuban Cossack troops Vladimir Gromov already in
1993, appealing to the leadership of Azerbaijan, officially announced
that the Cossacks were not fighting in Nagorno-Karabakh, said
Mereshkin.
“At one time, Armenians have written that in Sochi will be a monument
to Andronicus, and when I called on this issue to local chieftain,
they replied that they have their enough heroes, and they are not
going to establish a monument to an Armenian,” said Mereshkin.

“All the Cossack troops of Russia and Ukraine unequivocally support
Azerbaijan,” said Mereshkin.

Association of Azerbaijani Cossacks was registered by the Ministry of
Justice on Nov. 16, 1994. It combines about 1,500 people, whose
ancestors were Cossacks roots, and those who accept the charter and
tradition of the Cossacks.

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.