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  • Minsk Group and OSCE Special Mission To Visit Territories UnderNagor

    MINSK GROUP AND OSCE SPECIAL MISSION TO VISIT TERRITORIES UNDER NAGORNO
    KARABAKHâ~@~YS CONTROL IN JANUARY

    Azg/arm
    24 Dec 04

    On January 25 the OSCE special mission and the Minsk group co-chairs
    are going to visit the South Caucasian region, particularly the
    territories supervised by Nagorno Karabakh forces, to make sure whether
    Armenia really carries out a policy of mastering and inhabiting the
    territories administratively belonging to Azerbaijan or not. The
    7th meeting of Armenian and Azeri foreign ministers is envisaged in
    mid-January in Prague.

    Baku claims that Armenia is inhabiting the territories under Karabakh's
    control but Yerevan declines the condemnation telling that there
    are only few inhabitants on the territories who were forced out from
    Azerbaijan and Nagorno Karabakh. The Azeri foreign minister claimed
    at the UN General Assembly on November 23 that 13 thousand Armenians
    were moved to the region of Lachin.

    At his recent press conference Armenian foreign minister, Vartan
    Oskanian, noted that an observers' mission to the security zone is
    not troubling for us. Moreover, it is Azerbaijan that has to worry
    because of inhabiting Shahumian and Getashen regions, minister said.

    "The group of observers will arrive to collect facts and to assess
    the situation. It may be surprising for Azerbaijan that most of
    the inhabitants are the refugees from Shahumian, Getashen and North
    Martakert", Oskanian said.

    The minister of defense also noted few days ago that he sees no
    danger in observers' mission. "Firstly, our state implements no
    policy of inhabitation and secondly, the world knows that there is
    a strip of security. I think this will be a good chance for us too
    to find out whether, say, the region of Shahumian and other regions
    are inhabited with Azeris or not. And whether Azerbaijan is engaged
    in the inhabitation process or not", Serge Sargsian said.

    The UN Commission on Economic, Social and Cultural Issues expressed
    concern on November 26 over the fact of confiscating the property of
    the Armenians and other minorities by the Azeri settlers and advised
    Baku to take measures to compensate for "illegal confiscation"
    or provide alternative settlements to the Armenians and the other
    ethnic minorities.

    Azerbaijan carries out state policy of inhabiting occupied Armenian
    villages in Shahumian, and in Northern Martakert. In 2002 the late
    Azeri president Heydar Aliyev participated in an official ceremony
    of inhabiting one thousand Azeri families in the Armenian villages of
    Shahumian and Verin Shen regions after which the villages were renamed.

    The new French co-chair to the Minsk group, Bernard Fassie, will
    visit the region on January 25 after the Minsk group's mission. The
    latter's appointment, as a chairman did no come as a surprise as the
    former chairman, Henry Jacolin has retired. Fassie took part at the
    meeting of Oskanian and his Azeri counterpart Elmar Mammediarov in
    Sofia on December 5.

    Who is Bernard Fassie? Before his assignment as Minsk group
    co-chairman, he was the EUâ~@~Ys representative to Bosnia and
    Herzegovina in 2002. A specialist of Russian language and international
    relations, Fassie served as French ambassador to Byelorussia in
    1997-2002, worked at the French embassy of Georgia in 1993-1997 and
    at the Swiss embassy in 1990-1993. Fassie is a graduate of the San
    Siro Military Academy.

    By Tatoul Hakobian

    --Boundary_(ID_Th1mzB8MuUYqxmiOK4WeSA)--
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