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CLINTON WARNS OF 'DISASTROUS' AZERBAIJAN-ARMENIA CLASHES
Kuwait Times
June 6 2012
BAKU: US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton yesterday warned of
possible "disastrous consequences" after a flare-up of deadly violence
between ex-Soviet enemies Azerbaijan and Armenia. Clinton held talks
with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev in Baku as the reported death
toll in gunbattles between the two neighbors this week rose to nine
amid the worst clashes since 2010. After the talks, she said she was
"deeply concerned about the danger of escalating tension, which could
have unpredictable and disastrous consequences."
"This cycle of violence and retaliation must end," she said. Baku and
Yerevan are locked in a bitter unresolved conflict over the disputed
region of Nagorny Karabakh, which Armenia-backed separatists seized
from Azerbaijan in a bloody war in the 1990s. An Armenian soldier was
killed in a firefight in Karabakh yesterday, separatist officials
in the region said-an incident that followed the deaths of five
Azerbaijani troops and three Armenians in clashes on their mutual
border on Monday and Tuesday.
The United States is a co-chair with Russia and France of the OSCE
Minsk Group, which was set up after the 1994 Karabakh ceasefire to
help bring a resolution to the conflict. But no peace deal has yet been
signed and the conflict remains unresolved, leaving Armenia suffering
economically from closed borders with Azerbaijan and its ally Turkey,
while Baku has grown richer on its Caspian Sea oil deposits. The United
States has sought to balance its relationship with both countries,
pressed on one side by the large American Armenian community and
Washington's strategic interests in the Caspian basin on the other.
Clinton visited an oil and gas trade exposition being held in Baku,
highlighting the $8 billion that US energy companies have invested
in Azerbaijan since independence following the break-up of the
Soviet Union. She said later she appreciated "the central role that
Azerbaijan plays in efforts to diversify supplies of oil and gas as
well as the routes over which they are transported." Azerbaijan sits
astride pipelines that carry oil from the Caspian Sea through Georgia
and Turkey to the Mediterranean, offering a southern alternative to
a northern route through Russia.
Clinton said the United States also supports a proposed new pipeline
that would transport natural gas to Europe, which currently depends
heavily on Russia for gas supplies. During her five-hour stay,
she also met with representatives of civil society groups-a show of
concern for rights and democracy in a country that has been accused
of clamping down on dissent and muzzling free speech. She said she
told Aliyev that fostering a vibrant civil society and democracy was
"essential to the long-term success and prosperity of Azerbaijan."
"The United States remains strongly committed to working with
the government and people to advance respect for human rights and
fundamental freedoms," she said. "We, as we always do, urge the
government to respect their citizens' rights to express their views
peacefully and to release those who have been detained for doing so,
in print or on the streets, or for defending human rights."-AFP
Kuwait Times
June 6 2012
BAKU: US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton yesterday warned of
possible "disastrous consequences" after a flare-up of deadly violence
between ex-Soviet enemies Azerbaijan and Armenia. Clinton held talks
with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev in Baku as the reported death
toll in gunbattles between the two neighbors this week rose to nine
amid the worst clashes since 2010. After the talks, she said she was
"deeply concerned about the danger of escalating tension, which could
have unpredictable and disastrous consequences."
"This cycle of violence and retaliation must end," she said. Baku and
Yerevan are locked in a bitter unresolved conflict over the disputed
region of Nagorny Karabakh, which Armenia-backed separatists seized
from Azerbaijan in a bloody war in the 1990s. An Armenian soldier was
killed in a firefight in Karabakh yesterday, separatist officials
in the region said-an incident that followed the deaths of five
Azerbaijani troops and three Armenians in clashes on their mutual
border on Monday and Tuesday.
The United States is a co-chair with Russia and France of the OSCE
Minsk Group, which was set up after the 1994 Karabakh ceasefire to
help bring a resolution to the conflict. But no peace deal has yet been
signed and the conflict remains unresolved, leaving Armenia suffering
economically from closed borders with Azerbaijan and its ally Turkey,
while Baku has grown richer on its Caspian Sea oil deposits. The United
States has sought to balance its relationship with both countries,
pressed on one side by the large American Armenian community and
Washington's strategic interests in the Caspian basin on the other.
Clinton visited an oil and gas trade exposition being held in Baku,
highlighting the $8 billion that US energy companies have invested
in Azerbaijan since independence following the break-up of the
Soviet Union. She said later she appreciated "the central role that
Azerbaijan plays in efforts to diversify supplies of oil and gas as
well as the routes over which they are transported." Azerbaijan sits
astride pipelines that carry oil from the Caspian Sea through Georgia
and Turkey to the Mediterranean, offering a southern alternative to
a northern route through Russia.
Clinton said the United States also supports a proposed new pipeline
that would transport natural gas to Europe, which currently depends
heavily on Russia for gas supplies. During her five-hour stay,
she also met with representatives of civil society groups-a show of
concern for rights and democracy in a country that has been accused
of clamping down on dissent and muzzling free speech. She said she
told Aliyev that fostering a vibrant civil society and democracy was
"essential to the long-term success and prosperity of Azerbaijan."
"The United States remains strongly committed to working with
the government and people to advance respect for human rights and
fundamental freedoms," she said. "We, as we always do, urge the
government to respect their citizens' rights to express their views
peacefully and to release those who have been detained for doing so,
in print or on the streets, or for defending human rights."-AFP