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ARMENIA, AZERBAIJAN: FACE-OFF IN MEXICO OVER EL NAGORNO-KARABAKH
EurasiaNet.org
Oct 23 2012
NY
Mexico may be far away from the Caucasus' territorial conflicts,
but it is offering a venue for another staring-down match between
gun-slinging neighbors Armenia and Azerbaijan.
The Armenian-Azerbaijani diplomatic face-off over the breakaway
territory of Nagorno Karabakh mostly plays out in the US, Russia and
Europe, but (as with Georgia and its fight with Russia over separatist
Abkhazia and South Ossetia) lately has expanded to the Latino world,
with each side on the prowl for supporters.
On October 22, Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian arrived in
Mexico City to convey his nation's"bewilderment" at Mexico allegedly
taking sides in the 24-year Armenian-Azerbaijani feud. He reproached
Mexico's senadores and deputados for passing supposedly anti-Armenian
resolutions in the past, and proposed an Armenian embassy in Mexico
City as the way to help set things right.
In fact, a stroll through the streets and parks of Mexico City would
leave any dutiful Armenian official bewildered.
One park features a monument to the victims of the 1992 slayings of
ethnic Azeris in the Nagorno-Karabakh village of Khojaly, an act
Mexico has recognized as genocide; in another, passers-by are met
by a seated statue of the late Azerbaijani President Heydar Aliyev,
who increasingly appears in various poses and places around the world.
That said, a handful of Mexican civil-society activists, who see
Aliyev as a "dictator," recently protested against the statue. "We
have enough bad symbols here in Mexico; we don't need to import them
from outside," one demonstrator told The Los Angeles Times. But, so
far, no sign that the Aliyev memorial is going anyplace anytime soon.
Nonetheless, Nalbandian's hostess, Foreign Minister Patricia Espinosa,
assured her guest that the Mexican people wish Armenia well and that
she wishes to see more of him and of ties between Mexico and Armenia.
Statues, for now, presumably not included.
http://www.eurasianet.org/node/66091
EurasiaNet.org
Oct 23 2012
NY
Mexico may be far away from the Caucasus' territorial conflicts,
but it is offering a venue for another staring-down match between
gun-slinging neighbors Armenia and Azerbaijan.
The Armenian-Azerbaijani diplomatic face-off over the breakaway
territory of Nagorno Karabakh mostly plays out in the US, Russia and
Europe, but (as with Georgia and its fight with Russia over separatist
Abkhazia and South Ossetia) lately has expanded to the Latino world,
with each side on the prowl for supporters.
On October 22, Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian arrived in
Mexico City to convey his nation's"bewilderment" at Mexico allegedly
taking sides in the 24-year Armenian-Azerbaijani feud. He reproached
Mexico's senadores and deputados for passing supposedly anti-Armenian
resolutions in the past, and proposed an Armenian embassy in Mexico
City as the way to help set things right.
In fact, a stroll through the streets and parks of Mexico City would
leave any dutiful Armenian official bewildered.
One park features a monument to the victims of the 1992 slayings of
ethnic Azeris in the Nagorno-Karabakh village of Khojaly, an act
Mexico has recognized as genocide; in another, passers-by are met
by a seated statue of the late Azerbaijani President Heydar Aliyev,
who increasingly appears in various poses and places around the world.
That said, a handful of Mexican civil-society activists, who see
Aliyev as a "dictator," recently protested against the statue. "We
have enough bad symbols here in Mexico; we don't need to import them
from outside," one demonstrator told The Los Angeles Times. But, so
far, no sign that the Aliyev memorial is going anyplace anytime soon.
Nonetheless, Nalbandian's hostess, Foreign Minister Patricia Espinosa,
assured her guest that the Mexican people wish Armenia well and that
she wishes to see more of him and of ties between Mexico and Armenia.
Statues, for now, presumably not included.
http://www.eurasianet.org/node/66091