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CLINTON WARNS OVER ARMENIAN, AZERI VIOLENCE
Arshad Mohammed
Yahoo!7 News / Reuters
June 4 2012
YEREVAN (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton began a
trip to the South Caucasus region on Monday calling on arch rivals
Armenia and Azerbaijan to renounce violence that she warned could
slip into a broader regional conflict.
Post-Soviet nations Armenia and Azerbaijan traded accusations on Monday
ahead of Clinton's arrival over violence that killed three Armenian
soldiers and wounded soldiers on both sides of their shared border.
"I am very concerned by these incidents and have called on all parties,
all actors, to refrain from the use or threat of force," said Clinton
speaking to journalists. "There is a danger that it could escalate
into a much broader conflict that would be very tragic for everyone
concerned."
War between ethnic Azeris and Armenians erupted in 1991 over the
mostly Armenian Nagorno-Karabakh region which broke away from Muslim
Azerbaijan with the backing of Christian Armenia as the Soviet Union
collapsed two decades ago.
Sporadic violence still flares along a ceasefire line negotiated
in 1994. Some 30,000 people were killed and about 1 million became
refugees, the majority in Azerbaijan.
Clinton's South Caucasus trip will focus largely on U.S. interests
and security in the region criss-crossed by energy pipelines, fraught
with territorial disputes and the site of a five-day war between
Russia and pro-western Georgia in 2008.
Clinton was scheduled to meet Armenian President Serzh Sarksyan and
Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian during a less than five-hour visit
before travelling on to Georgia and then Azerbaijan, a major oil and
gas producer.
The Secretary of State also urged Armenia and Turkey, whose border has
been closed since 1993 to work towards a normalisation of relations.
"We are committed to seeing ... Armenia and Turkey normalise relations
because we think this is a path forward to a better future for the
citizens of both countries," she said.
Turkey closed its border with Armenia in an act of solidarity with
ethnic kin in Azerbaijan during the Nagorno-Karabkah conflict.
Lack of a permanent settlement to the frozen conflict, despite
mediation led by France, Russia and the United States, scuttled
Ankara's and Yerevan's efforts to normalise relations.
While Armenia and Turkey signed an agreement in October 2009 to
normalize relations, open the border and take steps to develop trade,
tourism and economic cooperation, the two sides never ratified
the pact.
Clinton also urged Armenia, whose closed borders make it largely
dependent on Iran and its former Soviet master Moscow to pursue
reforms to improve its economy as well as to strengthen democratic
institutions.
"Private sector investors are looking for an open business climate with
predictable rules and independent judiciary, transparent regulations,
taxes and customs," she said, adding that the United States was
pleased at progress Armenia had made.
>From Yerevan, Clinton flies to Georgia's Black Sea resort of Batumi
where she will spend two nights before travelling to Azerbaijan,
where her visit has been carefully calibrated to spend roughly the
same amount of time as she did in Armenia.
(Additional reporting by Margarita Antidze, Writing by Thomas Grove,
Editing by Michael Roddy)
http://au.news.yahoo.com/world/a/-/world/13867349/clinton-warns-over-armenian-azeri-violence/
http://af.reuters.com/article/energyOilNews/idAFL1E8H41M220120604
Arshad Mohammed
Yahoo!7 News / Reuters
June 4 2012
YEREVAN (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton began a
trip to the South Caucasus region on Monday calling on arch rivals
Armenia and Azerbaijan to renounce violence that she warned could
slip into a broader regional conflict.
Post-Soviet nations Armenia and Azerbaijan traded accusations on Monday
ahead of Clinton's arrival over violence that killed three Armenian
soldiers and wounded soldiers on both sides of their shared border.
"I am very concerned by these incidents and have called on all parties,
all actors, to refrain from the use or threat of force," said Clinton
speaking to journalists. "There is a danger that it could escalate
into a much broader conflict that would be very tragic for everyone
concerned."
War between ethnic Azeris and Armenians erupted in 1991 over the
mostly Armenian Nagorno-Karabakh region which broke away from Muslim
Azerbaijan with the backing of Christian Armenia as the Soviet Union
collapsed two decades ago.
Sporadic violence still flares along a ceasefire line negotiated
in 1994. Some 30,000 people were killed and about 1 million became
refugees, the majority in Azerbaijan.
Clinton's South Caucasus trip will focus largely on U.S. interests
and security in the region criss-crossed by energy pipelines, fraught
with territorial disputes and the site of a five-day war between
Russia and pro-western Georgia in 2008.
Clinton was scheduled to meet Armenian President Serzh Sarksyan and
Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian during a less than five-hour visit
before travelling on to Georgia and then Azerbaijan, a major oil and
gas producer.
The Secretary of State also urged Armenia and Turkey, whose border has
been closed since 1993 to work towards a normalisation of relations.
"We are committed to seeing ... Armenia and Turkey normalise relations
because we think this is a path forward to a better future for the
citizens of both countries," she said.
Turkey closed its border with Armenia in an act of solidarity with
ethnic kin in Azerbaijan during the Nagorno-Karabkah conflict.
Lack of a permanent settlement to the frozen conflict, despite
mediation led by France, Russia and the United States, scuttled
Ankara's and Yerevan's efforts to normalise relations.
While Armenia and Turkey signed an agreement in October 2009 to
normalize relations, open the border and take steps to develop trade,
tourism and economic cooperation, the two sides never ratified
the pact.
Clinton also urged Armenia, whose closed borders make it largely
dependent on Iran and its former Soviet master Moscow to pursue
reforms to improve its economy as well as to strengthen democratic
institutions.
"Private sector investors are looking for an open business climate with
predictable rules and independent judiciary, transparent regulations,
taxes and customs," she said, adding that the United States was
pleased at progress Armenia had made.
>From Yerevan, Clinton flies to Georgia's Black Sea resort of Batumi
where she will spend two nights before travelling to Azerbaijan,
where her visit has been carefully calibrated to spend roughly the
same amount of time as she did in Armenia.
(Additional reporting by Margarita Antidze, Writing by Thomas Grove,
Editing by Michael Roddy)
http://au.news.yahoo.com/world/a/-/world/13867349/clinton-warns-over-armenian-azeri-violence/
http://af.reuters.com/article/energyOilNews/idAFL1E8H41M220120604