AZERBAIJAN’S REBEL REGION VOTES ON CONSTITUTION
EuroNews.net, France
Dec 10 2006
It is a controversial ballot in a bitterly-disputed territory.
Azerbaijan’s breakaway Nagorno-Karabakh region has been voting on a
proposed constitution. It comes 15 years to the day since a referendum
in which it declared independence.
But, for the international community, it is not a sovereign state.
Nagorno-Karabakh officially remains part of Azerbaijan. This, is
despite the fact that it has been controlled by Armenian separatists
since armed conflict erupted in the early 1990s.
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The fighting was the bloodiest of the separatist wars that broke out
when the Soviet Union disintegrated. Some 35,000 people died. A fragile
ceasefire has been in force for over a decade. But the conflict is
still unresolved and exchanges of gunfire continue.