Tweet
KARABAKH LEADER URGES ACTION ON AZERBAIJAN THREATS
Pakistan Daily Times
April 28 2013
PARIS: The international community must take Azerbaijan's threats of
regaining the disputed region of Nagorny Karabakh seriously and
condemn Baku's ongoing arms-buying spree, the breakaway territory's
leader said Friday.
Seized by ethnic Armenian separatists in a war in the early 1990s that
left more than 30,000 dead, Karabakh is at the heart of long-simmering
tensions between ex-Soviet neighbours Azerbaijan and Armenia. Violence
continues to flare on its borders, with a least six soldiers killed so
far this year, and a new conflict would threaten to draw in regional
powers like Armenia's ally Russia, Azerbaijan's ally Turkey and Iran.
Baku has vowed to retake control of the small mountainous region,
whose self-declared independence has not been recognised by any state,
including Armenia.
In France for a three-day visit, the region's president Bako Sahakian
told AFP he saw no signs of a breakthrough in peace talks and warned
that Azerbaijan was stoking tensions with enormous arms purchases.
"We can only be worried by the policy of militarisation and
over-arming undertaken by Azerbaijan, because there are also clear and
explicit threats against our country," he said.
"The international community must react to this situation," he said.
Fuelled by the oil-rich country's energy exports, Azerbaijan's defence
spending has skyrocketed in recent years, with this year's military
budget at $1.9 billion (1.4 billion euros) - almost 15 percent of the
entire state budget.
Officials from Christian Armenia and Muslim Azerbaijan have met
repeatedly for peace talks since a ceasefire was signed in 1994, with
negotiations mediated by the Minsk Group chaired by France, Russia and
the United States. Sahakian, a former soldier and security service
chief who was elected to a second term last year, said that while
talks have failed to result in a peace deal, they have at least been
useful in preventing another war.
But he said the negotiations should be expanded to include
representatives of the authorities in Karabakh, which is home to about
150,000 people.
"To have real and serious progress in the negotiating process the
format must be re-established to have participants from Nagorny
Karabakh," Sahakian said.
He said he believed a negotiated solution was possible and insisted
authorities in Karabakh would not be the ones to start a new war.
"It is a complex conflict, you cannot expect a solution from one day
to the next. But there is no alternative to peace and dialogue,"
Sahakian said.
Experts have warned that a fresh conflict would be even more
devastating than the 1992-1994 Karabakh war - one of the bloodiest of
the many regional conflicts that followed the collapse of the Soviet
Union.
Karabakh survives thanks largely to financial and military backing
from Armenia and supporters in the widespread Armenian diaspora,
including in France.
Sahakian said he was hoping to drum up investment in France in the
hopes of boosting the region's small economy, which relies mainly on
agriculture, manufacturing and some mining.
He said he also expected progress soon on one of the region's key
efforts - resuming commercial flights into a revamped airport in the
capital, Stepanakert. afp
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2013%5C04%5C28%5Cstory_28-4-2013_pg14_4
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
Pakistan Daily Times
April 28 2013
PARIS: The international community must take Azerbaijan's threats of
regaining the disputed region of Nagorny Karabakh seriously and
condemn Baku's ongoing arms-buying spree, the breakaway territory's
leader said Friday.
Seized by ethnic Armenian separatists in a war in the early 1990s that
left more than 30,000 dead, Karabakh is at the heart of long-simmering
tensions between ex-Soviet neighbours Azerbaijan and Armenia. Violence
continues to flare on its borders, with a least six soldiers killed so
far this year, and a new conflict would threaten to draw in regional
powers like Armenia's ally Russia, Azerbaijan's ally Turkey and Iran.
Baku has vowed to retake control of the small mountainous region,
whose self-declared independence has not been recognised by any state,
including Armenia.
In France for a three-day visit, the region's president Bako Sahakian
told AFP he saw no signs of a breakthrough in peace talks and warned
that Azerbaijan was stoking tensions with enormous arms purchases.
"We can only be worried by the policy of militarisation and
over-arming undertaken by Azerbaijan, because there are also clear and
explicit threats against our country," he said.
"The international community must react to this situation," he said.
Fuelled by the oil-rich country's energy exports, Azerbaijan's defence
spending has skyrocketed in recent years, with this year's military
budget at $1.9 billion (1.4 billion euros) - almost 15 percent of the
entire state budget.
Officials from Christian Armenia and Muslim Azerbaijan have met
repeatedly for peace talks since a ceasefire was signed in 1994, with
negotiations mediated by the Minsk Group chaired by France, Russia and
the United States. Sahakian, a former soldier and security service
chief who was elected to a second term last year, said that while
talks have failed to result in a peace deal, they have at least been
useful in preventing another war.
But he said the negotiations should be expanded to include
representatives of the authorities in Karabakh, which is home to about
150,000 people.
"To have real and serious progress in the negotiating process the
format must be re-established to have participants from Nagorny
Karabakh," Sahakian said.
He said he believed a negotiated solution was possible and insisted
authorities in Karabakh would not be the ones to start a new war.
"It is a complex conflict, you cannot expect a solution from one day
to the next. But there is no alternative to peace and dialogue,"
Sahakian said.
Experts have warned that a fresh conflict would be even more
devastating than the 1992-1994 Karabakh war - one of the bloodiest of
the many regional conflicts that followed the collapse of the Soviet
Union.
Karabakh survives thanks largely to financial and military backing
from Armenia and supporters in the widespread Armenian diaspora,
including in France.
Sahakian said he was hoping to drum up investment in France in the
hopes of boosting the region's small economy, which relies mainly on
agriculture, manufacturing and some mining.
He said he also expected progress soon on one of the region's key
efforts - resuming commercial flights into a revamped airport in the
capital, Stepanakert. afp
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2013%5C04%5C28%5Cstory_28-4-2013_pg14_4
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress