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ANKARA: Azerbaijan, Armenians Trade Blame Over Violence, 1 Dead

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  • ANKARA: Azerbaijan, Armenians Trade Blame Over Violence, 1 Dead

    AZERBAIJAN, ARMENIANS TRADE BLAME OVER VIOLENCE, 1 DEAD

    Today's Zaman
    June 6 2012
    Turkey

    6 June 2012 / REUTERS WITH TODAYSZAMAN.COM, BAKU/YEREVAN

    Azerbaijan and Armenia-backed so-called Karabakh army traded
    accusations on Wednesday over cross border violence that killed one
    person, just days after US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton warned
    it could lead to regional conflict.

    Azerbaijan and Armenia have accused each other of triggering clashes
    that have now killed a total of nine people on both sides, prompting
    the worries over a resumption of fighting in a region criss-crossed
    by energy pipelines to Europe.

    Mainly Armenian Nagorno-Karabakh, which broke away from Muslim
    Azerbaijan with the help of Christian Armenia as the Soviet Union
    collapsed, accused Baku of trying to infiltrate three military
    positions, prompting the skirmish in which one soldier died.

    "Subdivisions of the Nagorno-Karabakh army entered into a defensive
    battle and threw the enemy back to their original position. As a
    result of the battle on the Armenian side one sergeant died and two
    men were injured," the statement from the so-called military said.

    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.

    Clinton, who visited Armenia on Monday, voiced concern that the
    violence between Azerbaijan and Armenia could lead to a "much broader
    conflict".

    Azerbaijan's Defence Ministry said Armenian forces had violated
    a ceasefire along their shared border on two occasions since late
    Tuesday, but its forces suffered no losses.

    War between ethnic Azeris and Armenians erupted in 1991 over the
    Nagorno-Karabakh region. A ceasefire was signed in 1994, but sporadic
    violence still flares along Azerbaijan's borders with Armenia and
    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.

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