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ISTANBUL: Elections in Nagorno-Karabakh Deteriorate Turkish-Armenian

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  • ISTANBUL: Elections in Nagorno-Karabakh Deteriorate Turkish-Armenian

    Today's Zaman,
    July 22 2012


    Elections in Nagorno-Karabakh Deteriorate Turkish-Armenian Ties


    Sunday, 22 July 2012 10:56 .

    Armenia has lambasted an official statement from Turkey criticizing
    Thursday's so-called presidential elections in Nagorno-Karabakh, a
    disputed territory between Azerbaijan and Armenia whose status has not
    been determined in terms of international law, in a move further
    deteriorating already soured relations between the two neighboring
    countries.

    Armenian Deputy Foreign Minister Shavarsh Kocharyan responded harshly
    to a statement by the Turkish Foreign Ministry on Thursday, election
    day in the de facto independent region which is only recognized by
    Armenia, saying that Turkey has no right to declare any opinion over
    the region, the status of which is still undetermined under the
    mandate of international initiatives, including the UN Security
    Council and the Organization of Security and Cooperation in Europe
    (OSCE).

    `If Turkey really cares about Azerbaijan's interests, it should teach
    Azerbaijan how democratic elections are held and how a democracy
    should be constituted in Nagorno-Karabakh,' Kocharyan stated in an
    official statement released on Thursday. He further deplored Turkey
    for its policy on the Cyprus issue, stating, `Instead of giving us
    lessons [on international law], Turkey should withdraw its military
    mission from North Cyprus under Turkish occupation.'

    In an official statement on Wednesday, the Turkish Foreign Ministry
    maintained that such elections would be a clear violation of UN
    Security Council resolutions and OSCE principles, asserting that these
    are `just another new example of efforts to unilaterally legitimize
    the status quo going against international law' in the disputed
    region.

    `Being undeterred in continuing its efforts for a ... normalization in
    the region in parallel to the maintenance of initiatives to resolve
    the Nagorno-Karabakh dispute on different platforms, Turkey deplores
    this action [the elections], which means a new sort of violation of
    Azerbaijan's political independence, sovereignty and territorial
    integrity,' the statement further emphasized.

    Meanwhile, the EU also has not hesitated in repudiating the so-called
    `presidential elections' in the disputed region.

    `These `elections' should not prejudice the determination of the
    future status of Nagorno-Karabakh in the negotiated general framework
    of the peaceful settlement of the conflict. I recall the EU's firm
    support for the OSCE Minsk Group ... aimed at a peaceful resolution of
    the conflict,' Catherine Ashton, the EU's foreign policy chief, said
    in an official statement released on Thursday.

    Although there have been efforts to resolve the dispute through the
    Minsk Group, an OSCE initiative that was established in 1992 to help
    resolve the dispute, no progress from the group's efforts has been
    reported so far. The territory is internationally recognized as part
    of Azerbaijan, but it is under the control of a de facto independent,
    but unrecognized, Armenia-backed government. The Nagorno-Karabakh
    dispute between Armenia and Azerbaijan turned into a war after the
    Armenian invasion in 1991. A cease-fire that persists to this day was
    declared in 1994. Supporting its strategic ally Azerbaijan, Turkey
    closed its borders with Armenia in an effort to pressure Armenia to
    respect the borders of its neighbors.

    Turkey also has its own long-standing bilateral problems with Armenia
    over its claims that the 1915 killings of Armenians during World War I
    at the hands of the Ottoman Empire amounted to genocide. The issue
    resurfaced after the administration of former French President Nicolas
    Sarkozy issued a bill to make it a crime to deny the Armenian claims
    of genocide, which was later deemed unconstitutional by the French
    Constitutional Council.




    From: A. Papazian
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