KARABAKH DELEGATION IN BRUSSELS TO ENGAGE WITH EU POLICY-MAKERS
14/1 0/08
NAGORNO KARABAKH
Officials from the Republic of Nagorno- Karabakh will visit Brussels
this week at the invitation of AGBU Europe, the European branch of
an international organization of the Armenian Diaspora. Mr Eduard
Atanesyan (Deputy Foreign Minister of NKR) and David Babayan (Head
of Information Department of the NKR president’s staff) will take
part, as experts, in a round table to discuss the situation in an
around Karabagh and EU policy concerning the territory. This is the
first visit to Brussels involving officials from Nagorno-Karabakh
in almost 10 years. The round table and associated events aim to
establish a dialogue in the EU foreign-policy community over the
future of Nagorno-Karabagh that involves individuals from Nagorno –
Karabakh itself.
BACKGROUND
Nagorno Karabagh is a small territory of 145 000 inhabitants in the
Caucasus that was part of Soviet Azerbaijan before the collapse of
the Soviet Union.
It became independent following a long and gruesome war with Azerbaijan
that claimed about 30 000 dead between 1991 and 1994. The conflict
was then "frozen" by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in
Europe (OSCE) under a policy consistently upheld until February 2008
that banned both the resumption of hostilities and the recognition
of new independent states in Europe.
However, little progress has been made towards a solution to the
conflict in the intervening 14 years, and Nagorno-Karabakh’s society
and economy have strived to develop while under a blockade and
without international recognition, not to mention without the foreign
assistance which other developing countries benefit from. The absence
of international recognition is a serious handicap to development,
as it hinders everything from international communications to trade
and human interaction with the rest of the world.
This summer’s war over nearby South Ossetia also showed the
disproportionate effect which local disputes can have in the Caucasus.
Bizarrely however, while Russia, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Turkey, the USA,
the EU, Iran and others all vye to decide its fate, talks over the
territory’s future have consistently excluded the representatives of
Nagorno-Karabakh iself.
STATEMENTS BY INTERNATIONAL INSTITUTIONS European Union. Official EU
statements (extracts) on the Nagorno Karabakh Republic.
1999 Resolution by the European Parliament on support for the peace
process in the Caucasus.
Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly (PACE). 1994 PACE Resolution
1047 on the conflict in Nagorno Karabakh.
1994 Report on the conflict in Nagorno Karabakh. This report records
the Council of Europe’s analysis of the conflict at the end of the
1991-1994 war. 1994 PACE Recommendation 1251 on the conflict in
Nagorno-Karabakh.
0A 1995 PACE Recommendation 1263 on the humanitarian situation of
the refugees and displaced persons in Armenia and Azerbaijan.
2005 PACE Resolution 1416 The conflict over the Nagorno-Karabakh
region dealt with by the OSCE Minsk Conference
2005 PACE Recommendation 1690. The conflict over the Nagorno-Karabakh
region dealt with by the OSCE Minsk Conference.
United Nations. 1993 UN Security Council Resolutions demanding a
cessation of the armed conflict of Nagorno Karabagh which took place
in the years 1991-1994. [Read ]
2008 UN General Assembly Resolution affirming territorial integrity
of Azerbaijan and demanding the withdrawal of all Armenian forces
from occupied territories.