AZERBAIJAN TO RAISE NAGORNY KARABAKH ISSUE IN UN SECURITY COUNCIL
RIA Novosti, Russia
Oct 26 2011
Azerbaijan plans to bring up the issue of the Nagorny Karabakh conflict
settlement at the United Nations, following its election to the UN
Security Council as a non-permanent member, Azerbaijan's Minister of
Foreign Affairs Elmar Mamedyarov said on Wednesday.
Azerbaijan was elected to the U.N. Security Council on Monday for
the period 2012-2013. There are ten temporary member states and five
veto-holding permanent members in the council - Russia, the United
States, China, the UK and France.
"To introduce any initiative it is important to have the preliminary
support of five permanent members of the council. Three of them are
co-chairmen of the OSCE Minsk Group. We have not discussed this issue
with the permanent members yet, but we will," Mamedyarov said.
Negotiations on the Nagorny Karabakh conflict settlement continue,
he added, but "nobody thinks that it will be settled within a night."
Baku has previously called for the withdrawal of the Armenian armed
forces from occupied Azerbaijani territories as a first step towards
the settlement of the dispute.
The conflict began in 1988 when the enclave of Nagorny Karabakh, which
had a majority Armenian population but was surrounded by Azerbaijani
territory, claimed independence from Azerbaijan. Local ethnic Armenian
forces succeeded in expelling the Azerbaijani forces in 1994, driving
out virtually all of the non-Armenian speaking population and also
occupying large swathes of territory in Azerbaijan outside Karabakh.
RIA Novosti, Russia
Oct 26 2011
Azerbaijan plans to bring up the issue of the Nagorny Karabakh conflict
settlement at the United Nations, following its election to the UN
Security Council as a non-permanent member, Azerbaijan's Minister of
Foreign Affairs Elmar Mamedyarov said on Wednesday.
Azerbaijan was elected to the U.N. Security Council on Monday for
the period 2012-2013. There are ten temporary member states and five
veto-holding permanent members in the council - Russia, the United
States, China, the UK and France.
"To introduce any initiative it is important to have the preliminary
support of five permanent members of the council. Three of them are
co-chairmen of the OSCE Minsk Group. We have not discussed this issue
with the permanent members yet, but we will," Mamedyarov said.
Negotiations on the Nagorny Karabakh conflict settlement continue,
he added, but "nobody thinks that it will be settled within a night."
Baku has previously called for the withdrawal of the Armenian armed
forces from occupied Azerbaijani territories as a first step towards
the settlement of the dispute.
The conflict began in 1988 when the enclave of Nagorny Karabakh, which
had a majority Armenian population but was surrounded by Azerbaijani
territory, claimed independence from Azerbaijan. Local ethnic Armenian
forces succeeded in expelling the Azerbaijani forces in 1994, driving
out virtually all of the non-Armenian speaking population and also
occupying large swathes of territory in Azerbaijan outside Karabakh.