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SYRIA ARMENIANS MOVE TO NAGORNO-KARABAKH: AZERBAIJAN
Hurriyet Daily News, Turkey
Oct 3 2013
UNITED NATIONS - Agence France-Presse
Print Page Send to friend " Share Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar
Mammadyarov speaks during the 68th session of the General Assembly at
United Nations headquarters, Sept. 28. AP photo Azerbaijan on Oct. 2
accused Armenia of resettling Syrian refugees in a disputed territory
both countries have been fighting over for decades.
Azerbaijan's U.N. ambassador said the rival neighbor had started
a "very dangerous process" by moving Syrian Armenians into
Nagorno-Karabakh.
Armenia says it has accepted more than 10,000 ethnic Armenians. But
Armenia's U.N. envoy said claims they have been moved into
Nagorno-Karabakh are "lies and distortion."
Armenian-backed independentists took Nagorno-Karabakh from Azerbaijan
in a war in the early 1990s that claimed an estimated 30,000 lives. A
1994 ceasefire ended major hostilities, but no peace accord has been
reached, and clashes regularly erupt. About 20 troops from either
side have been killed on their frontier this year.
"We continue to receive the reports testifying to purposeful attempts
aimed at encouraging some categories of Syrian refugees to move
to other conflict affected areas," Azerbaijan's U.N. envoy Agshin
Mehdiyev told a news conference.
"We have information that they already started it - settlement of
Syrian refugees in occupied territories - and of course it is a very
dangerous process with unpredictable consequences," added Mehdiyev,
who is the U.N. Security Council president for October.
The United Nations recognizes Nagorno-Karabakh as part of Azerbaijan.
But Azerbaijanis fled after the war and the population is currently
almost completely Armenian. In the absence of a peace accord,
Azerbaijan and Armenia have rearmed in recent years.
Azerbaijan's Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov raised the Syrian
Armenians in a speech to the U.N. General Assembly last week. The two
governments regularly clash over Nagorno-Karabakh at the annual U.N.
summit.
Mammadyarov said reports of Syrian Armenians being moved into
Nagorno-Karabakh "provide yet more evidence of Armenia's deliberate
policy of annexation of Azerbaijani lands."
Over 10,000 refugees
Armenia's U.N. ambassador Garen Nazarian told AFP that Azerbaijan
was "using the Syrian crisis for political goals. Not a single
Syrian Armenian has been moved into that territory." He described
the Azerbaijan claims as "lies and distortion." Armenia's Foreign
Minister Edward Nalbandyan told the General Assembly last week that
his country was "alarmed" by the crisis in Syria.
"The number of refugees Armenia continues to receive already exceeds
10,000, but tens of thousands of Syrian-Armenians still remain in
that country," he said.
Tens of thousands of Armenians fled to Syria after the mass killing
of Armenians in Ottoman Turkey during World War I.
October/02/2013
http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/syria-armenians-move-to-nagorno-karabakh-azerbaijan.aspx?pageID=238&nID=55588&NewsCatID=352
From: A. Papazian
Hurriyet Daily News, Turkey
Oct 3 2013
UNITED NATIONS - Agence France-Presse
Print Page Send to friend " Share Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar
Mammadyarov speaks during the 68th session of the General Assembly at
United Nations headquarters, Sept. 28. AP photo Azerbaijan on Oct. 2
accused Armenia of resettling Syrian refugees in a disputed territory
both countries have been fighting over for decades.
Azerbaijan's U.N. ambassador said the rival neighbor had started
a "very dangerous process" by moving Syrian Armenians into
Nagorno-Karabakh.
Armenia says it has accepted more than 10,000 ethnic Armenians. But
Armenia's U.N. envoy said claims they have been moved into
Nagorno-Karabakh are "lies and distortion."
Armenian-backed independentists took Nagorno-Karabakh from Azerbaijan
in a war in the early 1990s that claimed an estimated 30,000 lives. A
1994 ceasefire ended major hostilities, but no peace accord has been
reached, and clashes regularly erupt. About 20 troops from either
side have been killed on their frontier this year.
"We continue to receive the reports testifying to purposeful attempts
aimed at encouraging some categories of Syrian refugees to move
to other conflict affected areas," Azerbaijan's U.N. envoy Agshin
Mehdiyev told a news conference.
"We have information that they already started it - settlement of
Syrian refugees in occupied territories - and of course it is a very
dangerous process with unpredictable consequences," added Mehdiyev,
who is the U.N. Security Council president for October.
The United Nations recognizes Nagorno-Karabakh as part of Azerbaijan.
But Azerbaijanis fled after the war and the population is currently
almost completely Armenian. In the absence of a peace accord,
Azerbaijan and Armenia have rearmed in recent years.
Azerbaijan's Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov raised the Syrian
Armenians in a speech to the U.N. General Assembly last week. The two
governments regularly clash over Nagorno-Karabakh at the annual U.N.
summit.
Mammadyarov said reports of Syrian Armenians being moved into
Nagorno-Karabakh "provide yet more evidence of Armenia's deliberate
policy of annexation of Azerbaijani lands."
Over 10,000 refugees
Armenia's U.N. ambassador Garen Nazarian told AFP that Azerbaijan
was "using the Syrian crisis for political goals. Not a single
Syrian Armenian has been moved into that territory." He described
the Azerbaijan claims as "lies and distortion." Armenia's Foreign
Minister Edward Nalbandyan told the General Assembly last week that
his country was "alarmed" by the crisis in Syria.
"The number of refugees Armenia continues to receive already exceeds
10,000, but tens of thousands of Syrian-Armenians still remain in
that country," he said.
Tens of thousands of Armenians fled to Syria after the mass killing
of Armenians in Ottoman Turkey during World War I.
October/02/2013
http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/syria-armenians-move-to-nagorno-karabakh-azerbaijan.aspx?pageID=238&nID=55588&NewsCatID=352
From: A. Papazian