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  • U.S. Concerned By Azeri-Armenian Tensions

    U.S. CONCERNED BY AZERI-ARMENIAN TENSIONS

    San Mateo Daily Journal
    http://www.smdailyjournal.com/article_preview.php?id=235599&title=U.S.%20concern ed%20by%20Azeri-Armenian%20tensions
    June 5 2012

    June 05, 2012, 05:00 AM By Bradley Klapper The Associated Press

    YEREVAN, Armenia - Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton on Monday
    kicked off three days of diplomacy in Europe's Caucasus, expressing
    concern about recent clashes between Armenia and Azerbaijan as she
    hopes to mediate progress on a slew of trade and territorial disputes.

    In the middle of a weeklong European tour, Clinton decried the
    "senseless deaths of young soldiers and innocent civilians" as part
    of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict - just hours after the latest border
    clash. Armenia said three of its soldiers died and five were wounded.

    It wasn't clear if any Azeri soldiers died.

    "I am very concerned about the danger of escalation of tensions and the
    senseless deaths of young soldiers and innocent civilians," Clinton
    told reporters after a dinner with Armenia's president and foreign
    minister. "The use of force will not resolve the Nagorno-Karabakh
    conflict," she said, urging the sides to refrain from violence.

    The border clash underscored the instability of a region with
    long-simmering problems and surrounded by powerful neighbors Russia,
    Turkey and Iran. She left Armenia Monday night for neighboring Georgia,
    looking to strengthen security ties with a stalwart U.S. ally that
    was crushed in its 2008 war against Russia and hopes to regain control
    over two lost provinces. She visits Azerbaijan Wednesday.

    Warning that Azeri-Armenian tensions could escalate into a broader
    conflict with terrible consequences, she said the U.S. would continue
    to press with France, Russia and others on mediation efforts.

    The mountainous Nagorno-Karabakh enclave is within ex-Soviet
    Azerbaijan, but was taken over by Armenia during a six-year separatist
    war that killed about 30,000 people and displaced 1 million. Since
    the war's end in 1994, it has remained under the control of Armenian
    troops and ethnic Armenian forces.

    Violations of the cease-fire have been frequent, and diplomatic efforts
    to solve the conflict have failed. The U.S. hopes that at the least
    Armenia and Azerbaijan can agree to a set of basic principles that
    might lead toward peace. These include the return of territories
    and uprooted people to their homes, and an eventual vote on the
    area's future.

    Washington also wants to normalize relations between Armenia and
    Turkey, whose enmity reflects the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and the
    Ottoman Empire-era killing of some 1.5 million Armenians.

    The Obama administration has tried hard to help Armenia improve its
    economy, not least as a nod to the influential Armenian-American
    community, which is particularly strong in the Los Angeles area.

    Clinton, making her second trip to the region as secretary of state,
    helped Armenia and Turkey reach an agreement in 2009 that would have
    opened up their borders and normalized relations.

    But the deal stalled back as Turkey's parliament refused to ratify it.

    "The ball remains in Turkey's court," Clinton lamented.

    Armenia's problems are compounded by its geography. Cut off from trade
    with its booming neighbor Azerbaijan on one side and Azerbaijan's ally
    Turkey on the other, it must conduct all its international commerce
    through Georgia and Russia to the north. It is heavily dependent on
    Moscow for fuel.

    In Georgia, Clinton will underscore America's commitment to its
    pro-Western partner's defense and its hope of regaining control of
    breakaway South Ossetia and Abkhazia. Both declared independence
    after Russian troops routed the Georgian military over five days of
    fighting. Few governments beside Moscow have recognized them.

    In Azerbaijan, America's top diplomat will continue efforts toward a
    breakthrough in the Nagorno-Karabakh region, while addressing democracy
    and media freedom shortcomings. But she'll also underline oil-rich
    Azerbaijan's close cooperation with the U.S. on counterterrorism
    and its booming economy, which has expanded fourfold since 2004,
    attending an energy industry gathering in the capital of Baku to
    promote American companies and future investments.

    She will likely speak to officials as well about Azerbaijan's southern
    neighbor, Iran.

    Azerbaijan has arrested dozens of people it claims were hired by the
    Islamic republic to carry out attacks against the U.S. and Israeli
    embassies, as well as Western-linked groups and companies.

    Associated Press writer Avet Demuryan contributed to this report.


    From: Baghdasarian
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