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Russia Plays Important, Positive Role In Nagorno-Karabakh Settlement

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  • Russia Plays Important, Positive Role In Nagorno-Karabakh Settlement

    RUSSIA PLAYS IMPORTANT, POSITIVE ROLE IN NAGORNO-KARABAKH SETTLEMENT -- ALIYEV

    ITAR-TASS
    July 13 2009
    Russia

    LONDON, July 13 (Itar-Tass) --The Russian leadership and President
    Dmitry Medvedev play an important and positive role in search for
    a peaceful solution to the conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan
    over Nagorno-Karabakh, Azerbaijani President Ilkham Aliyev said.

    "Russia is interested to resolve the conflict, and we see and
    appreciate these efforts," Aliyev said at the Royal Institute of
    International Affairs on Monday.

    He expressed hope that the approaches formulated in the Moscow
    Declaration would be accepted by all parties to the talks, which
    should pave the way for the resolution of the conflict in which
    "there has been neither peace nor war" over the past 15 years.

    The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict began on February 22, 1988, when the
    first direct confrontation occurred in the enclave after a big group
    of Azeris had marched towards the Armenian-populated town of Askeran,
    "wreaking destruction en route." A large number of refugees fled
    Armenia and Azerbaijan as violence erupted against the minority
    populations in the two countries. In the autumn of 1989, intensified
    inter-ethnic conflict in and around Nagorno-Karabakh prodded the
    Soviet government into granting Azerbaijani authorities greater
    leeway in controlling the region. On November 29, 1989 direct rule
    in Nagorno-Karabakh was ended and Azerbaijan regained control of the
    region. However later a joint session of the Armenian parliament and
    the top legislative body of Nagorno-Karabakh proclaimed the unification
    of Nagorno-Karabakh with Armenia.

    On December 10, 1991, Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh held a referendum,
    boycotted by local Azeris, that approved the creation of an independent
    state.

    The struggle over Nagorno-Karabakh escalated after both Armenia and
    Azerbaijan obtained independence from the Soviet Union in 1991. By
    the end of 1993, the conflict had caused thousands of casualties and
    created hundreds of thousands of refugees on both sides. An unofficial
    ceasefire was reached on May 12, 1994.

    Despite the ceasefire, fatalities due to armed conflicts between
    Armenian and Azerbaijani soldiers continued. As of August, 2008, the
    United States, France, and Russia (the co-chairmen of the OSCE Minsk
    Group) were attempting to negotiate a full settlement of the conflict,
    proposing a referendum on the status of the area, which culminated
    in Azerbaijani President Ilkham Aliyev and Armenian President Serzh
    Sargsyan travelling to Moscow for talks with Russian President Dmitry
    Medvedev on 2 November 2008. As a result, the three presidents signed
    an agreement that calls for talks on a political settlement of the
    Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
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