AZERBAIJAN: Nagorno-Karabakh, Azerbaijan's breakaway region disputed between Armenia and Azerbaijan, is a frozen conflict threatening to melt into a new war

Record ID: 218259

  • Title: AZERBAIJAN: Nagorno-Karabakh, Azerbaijan's breakaway region disputed between Armenia and Azerbaijan, is a frozen conflict threatening to melt into a new war
  • Date: 13th July 2012
  • Summary: STEPANAKERT, NAGORNO-KARABAKH, AZERBAIJAN (RECENT - JULY, 2012) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF CAPITAL'S TOP VIEW CENTRAL SQUARE SOLDER WALKING ON STREET PRESIDENTIAL PALACE NATIONAL FLAG ON TOP OF BUILDING PLAQUE READING 'THE RESIDENCE OF THE NAGORNO-KARABAKH REPUBLIC PRESIDENT' BAKO SAHAKYAN, NAGORNO-KARABAKH'S LEADER AT START OF INTERVIEW COAT OF ARMS ON WALL (SOUNDBITE) (Armenia
  • Embargoed: 28th July 2012 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Azerbaijan
  • Country: Azerbaijan
  • Topics: International Relations,Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVAZQDRSOAY1HZWLCTY1I75UJ0Q
  • Story Text: Linked to Armenia by a narrow land corridor and backed financially and militarily by Yerevan since the war, Nagorno-Karabakh is surrounded by Azeri territory and is still regarded by the United Nations as part of Azerbaijan.
    Its unresolved status and growing tension between Armenia and Azerbaijan could unleash a war over the disputed region that would spread far beyond the two countries' borders, which could be avoided by right steps taken by the international community, according to its leader.
    "This would not be a regional conflict; it would be a problem of global significance. We think that if hostilities resume, they could not be limited to a local or regional framework. I think it would have a wider geographical spread," Bako Sahakyan, Nagorno-Karabakh's self-styled president, told Reuters in Stepanakert, a town of 57,000 surrounded by the thickly-wooded mountains in the volatile South Caucasus.
    Sahakyan's concern is compounded by fears that any new conflict would be much more devastating than the 1991-94 Azerbaijan-Armenian war and draw in Russia and NATO-member Turkey, threatening energy supplies from Azerbaijan to Europe.
    About 30,000 people were killed in fighting in the 1990s after Nagorno-Karabakh, populated mainly by Christian Armenians, broke away from Muslim Azerbaijan as the Soviet Union collapsed.
    Azeri and Armenian soldiers watch each other along the Nagorno-Karabakh border through binoculars and sniper scopes from dusty trenches guarding an 18-year-old ceasefire line frequently broken by skirmishes along Armenia's border with Azerbaijan.
    "Azerbaijan has for quite a long time - from my point of view and this is our country's stand - been pursuing a dangerous policy," Sahakyan said, sitting in a large wood-panelled office in front of Nagorno-Karabakh's flag and emblem showing a crowned eagle.
    "If the international community does not assess this (Azerbaijan's) policy in the right way and take steps, then with Azerbaijan sowing hatred of Armenians, we cannot rule out the probability of a new war breaking out and the likelihood of new hostilities is growing," he said.
    Sahakyan, who is campaigning for a new five-year term as Nagorno-Karabakh's leader, said his region with a population of 160,000, known locally as the Artsakh Republic, should be represented at internationally mediated peace talks between Armenia and Azerbaijan in order to solve the problem peacefully.
    "We are convinced that this conflict cannot be fully resolved if the Artsakh Republic is not a full party to the negotiations and according to the Budapest (Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe 1994) Summit decision we are such a side and our current efforts are directed towards the implementation of that decision to become a full party to the negotiations," he said.
    Independent experts say there is a danger of a new conflict, perhaps accidentally, if anger boils over because of a border skirmish, but say neither side appears to have an immediate interest in starting a new war.
    They say the status quo suits Armenia, and Azeri President Ilham Aliyev would think hard before starting a war that would put Azerbaijan's energy network and its plans to pump 16 billion cubic metres of gas per year to Europe from 2017 at risk.
    Any conflict would risk sucking in regional powers because Russia, which has a military base in Armenia, has a collective security agreement with Yerevan, and Turkey has a similar arrangement with Baku that could oblige it to offer protection if Azerbaijan comes under attack.
    In June, violence broke out near the border of Armenia and Azerbaijan killing nine.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2012. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
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