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CAUCASIAN DEATHS TEST THE KOSOVO EFFECT
Foreign Policy Passport
March 5 2008
PETRAS MALUKAS/AFP/Getty ImagesAs many as 16 soldiers died Tuesday in
a clash between Azeri and Armenian forces in the disputed territory
of Nagorno-Karabakh. The province, located within Azerbaijan, was
the site of large-scale violence and civilian relocation in the early
1990s after ethnic Armenians declared it independent. Warring parties
signed a ceasefire agreement in 1994, but the self-run province
remains largely unrecognized abroad and isolated from the world,
thanks to an Azeri blockade.
As reports of the clash reached the Azeri public, President Ilham
Aliyev declared his country's readiness to use force in order to
retake the province:
We have been buying military machinery, airplanes and ammunition to
be ready to liberate the occupied territories, and we are ready to
do this."
Indeed, tensions have been escalating for a while -- in November,
Azerbaijan's defense minister said the chances of war were "close
to 100 percent." Nonetheless, Azerbaijan blames the Armenians for
yesterday's violence, claiming they forced an attack in order to draw
attention away from the riots and deadly violence that gripped their
capital over the weekend. Armenia, in turn, accuses Azerbaijan of
exploiting Armenia's internal struggles to advance its own territorial
claims.
Aliyev's speech came in part as a reaction to Kosovo's recent
declaration of independence. Azerbaijan staunchly opposes independence
for Kosovo, fearing that Armenian-controlled Nagorno-Karabakh could
see international recognition of Kosovo as a green light for its
own full independence. U.S. officials may repeat the refrain that
"Kosovo does not constitute any precedent whatsoever," but clearly,
plenty of other countries and regions see it as exactly that.
Foreign Policy Passport
March 5 2008
PETRAS MALUKAS/AFP/Getty ImagesAs many as 16 soldiers died Tuesday in
a clash between Azeri and Armenian forces in the disputed territory
of Nagorno-Karabakh. The province, located within Azerbaijan, was
the site of large-scale violence and civilian relocation in the early
1990s after ethnic Armenians declared it independent. Warring parties
signed a ceasefire agreement in 1994, but the self-run province
remains largely unrecognized abroad and isolated from the world,
thanks to an Azeri blockade.
As reports of the clash reached the Azeri public, President Ilham
Aliyev declared his country's readiness to use force in order to
retake the province:
We have been buying military machinery, airplanes and ammunition to
be ready to liberate the occupied territories, and we are ready to
do this."
Indeed, tensions have been escalating for a while -- in November,
Azerbaijan's defense minister said the chances of war were "close
to 100 percent." Nonetheless, Azerbaijan blames the Armenians for
yesterday's violence, claiming they forced an attack in order to draw
attention away from the riots and deadly violence that gripped their
capital over the weekend. Armenia, in turn, accuses Azerbaijan of
exploiting Armenia's internal struggles to advance its own territorial
claims.
Aliyev's speech came in part as a reaction to Kosovo's recent
declaration of independence. Azerbaijan staunchly opposes independence
for Kosovo, fearing that Armenian-controlled Nagorno-Karabakh could
see international recognition of Kosovo as a green light for its
own full independence. U.S. officials may repeat the refrain that
"Kosovo does not constitute any precedent whatsoever," but clearly,
plenty of other countries and regions see it as exactly that.