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Azerbaijan: soldier killed by gunfire from Armenian forces; Armenian denies report
By AIDA SULTANOVA
AP Worldstream; Jul 31, 2006
An Azerbaijani soldier was shot and killed by ethnic Armenian forces
near the disputed territory of Nagorno-Karabakh, Azerbaijani officials
said Monday.
Armenian defense official denied the report.
The incident came amid increasing exchange of gunfire between
Azerbaijani and ethnic Armenian forces near Nagorno-Karabakh, a
mountain territory that is in Azerbaijan but has been controlled _
along with some surrounding areas _ by Karabakh and Armenian forces
since a shaky cease-fire in 1994 ended a six-year separatist war.
Some 30,000 people were killed and about 1 million driven from their
homes during the fighting.
Azerbaijan's Defense Ministry said Qali Ismailov died Saturday in
the Terter region northeast of Nagorno-Karabakh. It also said in
a statement that the region has seen at least three exchanges of
automatic weapons fire and mortars in the past three days.
Armenian Defense Ministry spokesman Mikhail Shakhsuvarian denied that
Armenian gunfire had killed any Azerbaijani soldiers.
The lack of resolution over the Nagorno-Karabakh's final status
has hampered development in the strategic South Caucasus region,
and international mediators have long pushed Armenia and Azerbaijan
to reach agreement.
The two countries' presidents have met twice this year, with no
progress made on the issue, and mediators have begun to express
frustration over both sides' intransigence.
President Ilham Aliev on Monday repeated his government's opposition
to any division of the territory.
"Azerbaijan will never agree to the separation of Nagorno-Karabakh,
either today or tomorrow. And it will never agree to terms allowing
for the separation of Nagorno-Karabakh in the future," he said in
televised comments.
A top U.S. mediator, meanwhile, traveled to Armenia for talks with
President Robert Kocharian and other government officials. Matthew
Bryza, co-chairman of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in
Europe's so-called Minsk Group, said a referendum among all residents
of Nagorno-Karabakh was the best way to resolve the dispute.
"However, there is the question of who could be considered a resident
of Kazbakh," he told reporters. "There are also people who lived
there in 1988 and who wish to participate in a referendum. All these
questions should be considered as part of the entire package."
Most of Nagorno-Karabakh's Azerbaijani residents were driven out or
fled the territory during the war.
___
Associated Press Writer Pyotr Magdashian contributed to this report
from Yerevan, Armenia.
By AIDA SULTANOVA
AP Worldstream; Jul 31, 2006
An Azerbaijani soldier was shot and killed by ethnic Armenian forces
near the disputed territory of Nagorno-Karabakh, Azerbaijani officials
said Monday.
Armenian defense official denied the report.
The incident came amid increasing exchange of gunfire between
Azerbaijani and ethnic Armenian forces near Nagorno-Karabakh, a
mountain territory that is in Azerbaijan but has been controlled _
along with some surrounding areas _ by Karabakh and Armenian forces
since a shaky cease-fire in 1994 ended a six-year separatist war.
Some 30,000 people were killed and about 1 million driven from their
homes during the fighting.
Azerbaijan's Defense Ministry said Qali Ismailov died Saturday in
the Terter region northeast of Nagorno-Karabakh. It also said in
a statement that the region has seen at least three exchanges of
automatic weapons fire and mortars in the past three days.
Armenian Defense Ministry spokesman Mikhail Shakhsuvarian denied that
Armenian gunfire had killed any Azerbaijani soldiers.
The lack of resolution over the Nagorno-Karabakh's final status
has hampered development in the strategic South Caucasus region,
and international mediators have long pushed Armenia and Azerbaijan
to reach agreement.
The two countries' presidents have met twice this year, with no
progress made on the issue, and mediators have begun to express
frustration over both sides' intransigence.
President Ilham Aliev on Monday repeated his government's opposition
to any division of the territory.
"Azerbaijan will never agree to the separation of Nagorno-Karabakh,
either today or tomorrow. And it will never agree to terms allowing
for the separation of Nagorno-Karabakh in the future," he said in
televised comments.
A top U.S. mediator, meanwhile, traveled to Armenia for talks with
President Robert Kocharian and other government officials. Matthew
Bryza, co-chairman of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in
Europe's so-called Minsk Group, said a referendum among all residents
of Nagorno-Karabakh was the best way to resolve the dispute.
"However, there is the question of who could be considered a resident
of Kazbakh," he told reporters. "There are also people who lived
there in 1988 and who wish to participate in a referendum. All these
questions should be considered as part of the entire package."
Most of Nagorno-Karabakh's Azerbaijani residents were driven out or
fled the territory during the war.
___
Associated Press Writer Pyotr Magdashian contributed to this report
from Yerevan, Armenia.