Tweet
AZERBAIJAN, ARMENIA TRADE BARBS OVER KARABAKH DEATHS
By Lada Yevgrashina and Hasmik Lazarian
Reuters
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/10/06/azerbaijan-armenia-karabakh-idUSL5E7L62QV20111006
Oct 6 2011
* Two Azeri, one Armenian soldiers dead, more wounded
* Deaths stoke tensions on eve of Sarkozy visit
BAKU/YEREVAN, Oct 6 (Reuters) - Armenia and Azerbaijan traded
accusations on Thursday after three soldiers were killed on a ceasefire
line near the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region before a visit to the
Caucasus by French President Nicolas Sarkozy.
The two Azeri soldiers and one Armenian soldier were killed late
on Wednesday, raising tensions ahead of Sarkozy's arrival on a trip
intended to promote peace.
The Azeri Defence Ministry accused Armenian forces of violating the
ceasefire and shooting dead the two Azeri soldiers, ministry spokesman
Teimur Abdullayev said.
Armenia blamed Azerbaijan for the tension, saying one of its soldiers
was killed and two more were wounded by Azeri snipers.
"Azerbaijan ... puts the fragile stability of the region under threat,"
Armenian Defence Ministry spokesman David Karapetyan said.
Armenian-backed forces wrested Nagorno-Karabakh, a mainly
Armenian-populated enclave inside Azerbaijan, from Azeri control
after the Soviet Union collapsed.
A ceasefire was reached in 1994 after 30,000 people had been killed
and about 1 million had been driven from their homes.
Sarkozy is expected to discuss Nagorno-Karabakh with Armenian
President Serzh Sarksyan in Yerevan on Thursday and with Azeri
President Ilham Aliyev in Baku on Friday, before a nearly three-hour
stopover in Georgia.
France has a leading role in the Minsk Group of countries from the
Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) which is
trying to resolve the conflict.
The two sides failed to agree on a blueprint for a resolution of the
conflict at talks in June and the angry rhetoric between them has
worsened since then.
Nagorno-Karabakh has been run by a de facto government with support
from Armenia since the end of the conflict in 1994. (Writing by
Margarita Antidze in Tbilisi and Alissa de Carbonnel in Moscow;
Editing by Myra MacDonald)
By Lada Yevgrashina and Hasmik Lazarian
Reuters
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/10/06/azerbaijan-armenia-karabakh-idUSL5E7L62QV20111006
Oct 6 2011
* Two Azeri, one Armenian soldiers dead, more wounded
* Deaths stoke tensions on eve of Sarkozy visit
BAKU/YEREVAN, Oct 6 (Reuters) - Armenia and Azerbaijan traded
accusations on Thursday after three soldiers were killed on a ceasefire
line near the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region before a visit to the
Caucasus by French President Nicolas Sarkozy.
The two Azeri soldiers and one Armenian soldier were killed late
on Wednesday, raising tensions ahead of Sarkozy's arrival on a trip
intended to promote peace.
The Azeri Defence Ministry accused Armenian forces of violating the
ceasefire and shooting dead the two Azeri soldiers, ministry spokesman
Teimur Abdullayev said.
Armenia blamed Azerbaijan for the tension, saying one of its soldiers
was killed and two more were wounded by Azeri snipers.
"Azerbaijan ... puts the fragile stability of the region under threat,"
Armenian Defence Ministry spokesman David Karapetyan said.
Armenian-backed forces wrested Nagorno-Karabakh, a mainly
Armenian-populated enclave inside Azerbaijan, from Azeri control
after the Soviet Union collapsed.
A ceasefire was reached in 1994 after 30,000 people had been killed
and about 1 million had been driven from their homes.
Sarkozy is expected to discuss Nagorno-Karabakh with Armenian
President Serzh Sarksyan in Yerevan on Thursday and with Azeri
President Ilham Aliyev in Baku on Friday, before a nearly three-hour
stopover in Georgia.
France has a leading role in the Minsk Group of countries from the
Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) which is
trying to resolve the conflict.
The two sides failed to agree on a blueprint for a resolution of the
conflict at talks in June and the angry rhetoric between them has
worsened since then.
Nagorno-Karabakh has been run by a de facto government with support
from Armenia since the end of the conflict in 1994. (Writing by
Margarita Antidze in Tbilisi and Alissa de Carbonnel in Moscow;
Editing by Myra MacDonald)