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Azerbaijan Insists On 'Self-Rule' For Karabakh

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  • Azerbaijan Insists On 'Self-Rule' For Karabakh

    AZERBAIJAN INSISTS ON 'SELF-RULE' FOR KARABAKH

    Radio Free Europe
    December 2, 2009

    YEREVAN -- Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov says Baku
    insists on restoring control over Nagorno-Karabakh despite accepting
    the right to self-determination as a core principle for resolving the
    Armenian-Azerbaijani dispute over the territory, RFE/RL's Armenian
    Service reports.

    Mammadyarov said today in a speech at a Organization for Security
    and Cooperation in Europe conference in Athens that "Providing
    self-governance for Nagorno-Karabakh within Azerbaijan will be a
    just and durable solution, and it can dramatically reduce tensions
    and challenges for peace and stability in the region."

    The remark highlighted the conflicting parties' differing public
    interpretations of the basic principles of a Karabakh settlement
    put forward by the U.S., Russian, and French cochairs of the OSCE
    Minsk Group.

    The proposed agreement calls for the liberation of Azerbaijani
    territories surrounding Karabakh and a future referendum of
    self-determination in the Armenian-controlled territory.

    An Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry spokesman said last month that
    the principle of self-determination does not call into question
    Azerbaijan's sovereignty over Karabakh.

    The region's predominantly Armenian population could only determine
    the extent of its self-rule within Azerbaijan, he said. Armenian
    officials insist, however, the Karabakh Armenians would be able to
    vote for independence, reunification with Armenia or return under
    Azerbaijani rule in the would-be referendum.

    In his speech, Mammadyarov also accused Armenia of occupying almost
    20 percent of his country's internationally recognized territory,
    displacing hundreds of thousands of Azerbaijanis, and destroying
    their cultural heritage.

    Speaking at the OSCE forum later in the day, Eduard Nalbandian
    accused Mammadyarov of seeking to "distort" the essence of the
    Karabakh dispute and international efforts to resolve it. Still,
    both ministers noted that the parties have moved closer to reaching
    a compromise peace accord.

    From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
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