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Chicago Tribune, IL
June 14 2012
OSCE slams recent violence between Azerbaijan, Armenia
BAKU (Reuters) - Azerbaijan and Armenia should pull back snipers from
their border areas and agree on a mechanism for investigating
incidents, the OSCE said on Thursday, in the wake of skirmishes
between the arch rivals that have killed nine people.
The two countries have accused each other of triggering the recent
cross-border clashes which have prompted worries of a resumption of
fighting in a region criss-crossed by energy pipelines to Europe.
The Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) urged
both sides to show restraint and end the violence.
"The cycle of violence must stop - this conflict will not be resolved
by the use of force," said the OSCE chairperson-in-office, Irish
Foreign Minister Eamon Gilmore, at a news conference in the Azeri
capital Baku.
Clashes took place on both sides of the shared border between the two
countries as well as around breakaway Nagorno-Karabakh, which split
off from Muslim Azerbaijan with the help of Christian Armenia when the
Soviet Union collapsed.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who visited the region last
week, voiced concern the violence could lead to a "much broader
conflict". ID:nL5E8H4CSZ]
RHETORIC
War between ethnic Azeris and Armenians erupted in 1991 over the
mainly Armenian Nagorno-Karabakh region. A ceasefire was signed in
1994, but sporadic violence still flares along Azerbaijan's border
with Armenia and a frontline with Nagorno-Karabakh.
Nagorno-Karabakh has run its own affairs with the heavy military and
financial backing of Armenia since the war, when Armenian-backed
forces seized control of the enclave and seven surrounding Azeri
districts forming a land corridor with Armenia.
Russia, France and the United States have led years of mediation
efforts under the auspices of the OSCE.
Baku and Yerevan failed to agree at talks in June last year and the
angry rhetoric between them has worsened since then. Foreign ministers
of the two countries plan to meet again on June 18 in Paris.
Oil-producing Azerbaijan, host to oil majors including BP, Chevron and
ExxonMobil, frequently threatens to take the mountain enclave back by
force, and is spending heavily on its armed forces.
Azeri Foreign Minister Elmar Mamedyarov said on Thursday Azerbaijan
was ready to remove snipers from the conflict zone if Armenia would
start withdrawing its forces from the Azeri territories.
"If Armenia does not want its soldiers to die, it should withdraw its
forces from Azeri territories," Mamedyarov told a news conference. "If
it happens, there will be no need for snipers."
(Reporting by Lada Evgrashina; additional reporting and writing by
Margarita Antidze in Tbilisi; Editing by Sophie Hares)
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/sns-rt-us-azerbaijan-armenia-oscebre85d0z3-20120614,0,2854735.story
June 14 2012
OSCE slams recent violence between Azerbaijan, Armenia
BAKU (Reuters) - Azerbaijan and Armenia should pull back snipers from
their border areas and agree on a mechanism for investigating
incidents, the OSCE said on Thursday, in the wake of skirmishes
between the arch rivals that have killed nine people.
The two countries have accused each other of triggering the recent
cross-border clashes which have prompted worries of a resumption of
fighting in a region criss-crossed by energy pipelines to Europe.
The Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) urged
both sides to show restraint and end the violence.
"The cycle of violence must stop - this conflict will not be resolved
by the use of force," said the OSCE chairperson-in-office, Irish
Foreign Minister Eamon Gilmore, at a news conference in the Azeri
capital Baku.
Clashes took place on both sides of the shared border between the two
countries as well as around breakaway Nagorno-Karabakh, which split
off from Muslim Azerbaijan with the help of Christian Armenia when the
Soviet Union collapsed.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who visited the region last
week, voiced concern the violence could lead to a "much broader
conflict". ID:nL5E8H4CSZ]
RHETORIC
War between ethnic Azeris and Armenians erupted in 1991 over the
mainly Armenian Nagorno-Karabakh region. A ceasefire was signed in
1994, but sporadic violence still flares along Azerbaijan's border
with Armenia and a frontline with Nagorno-Karabakh.
Nagorno-Karabakh has run its own affairs with the heavy military and
financial backing of Armenia since the war, when Armenian-backed
forces seized control of the enclave and seven surrounding Azeri
districts forming a land corridor with Armenia.
Russia, France and the United States have led years of mediation
efforts under the auspices of the OSCE.
Baku and Yerevan failed to agree at talks in June last year and the
angry rhetoric between them has worsened since then. Foreign ministers
of the two countries plan to meet again on June 18 in Paris.
Oil-producing Azerbaijan, host to oil majors including BP, Chevron and
ExxonMobil, frequently threatens to take the mountain enclave back by
force, and is spending heavily on its armed forces.
Azeri Foreign Minister Elmar Mamedyarov said on Thursday Azerbaijan
was ready to remove snipers from the conflict zone if Armenia would
start withdrawing its forces from the Azeri territories.
"If Armenia does not want its soldiers to die, it should withdraw its
forces from Azeri territories," Mamedyarov told a news conference. "If
it happens, there will be no need for snipers."
(Reporting by Lada Evgrashina; additional reporting and writing by
Margarita Antidze in Tbilisi; Editing by Sophie Hares)
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/sns-rt-us-azerbaijan-armenia-oscebre85d0z3-20120614,0,2854735.story