LEADERS PAN NAGORNO-KARABAKH ELECTIONS
United Press International UPI
July 24 2012
Presidential “elections” in the unrecognized Nagorno-Karabakh Republic
have added fuel the long-simmering conflict there, world leaders say.
YEREVAN, Armenia, July 24 (UPI) — Presidential elections in
the unrecognized Nagorno-Karabakh Republic have added fuel the
long-simmering conflict there, world leaders say.
Bako Sahakyan last week was declared the winner of last Thursday’s
vote in the disputed predominantly Armenian-Christian enclave, which
broke away from Muslim Azerbaijan in a bloody 2-year conflict starting
in 1992 and voted to become a sovereign state in 2006.
Azerbaijan considers Nagorno-Karabakh part of its territory and has
threatened to retake it by force if necessary if negotiations over
returning it to the fold aren’t successful.
Violence continues to flare along the “line of contact” between the
enclave and Azerbaijan, with Baku claiming to have lost six soldiers
and Armenia four last month.
Sahakyan, the incumbent president in the self-proclaimed nation,
garnered more than 66 percent of the vote, defeating retired Gen.
Vitaly Balasanian, separatist authorities said.
He was congratulated Friday by Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan
but the vote was roundly condemned by other leaders from around the
world, including the Russian, U.S. and French members of the Minsk
Group of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe,
which is seeking a political solution to the conflict.
They largely agreed the unsanctioned elections have added to the
intractability of the two sides.
Georgia, for instance, declared its “unequivocal support for the
sovereignty and territorial integrity of Azerbaijan and does
not recognize so-called ‘presidential elections’ conducted in
Nagorno-Karabakh.”
EU High Representative Catherine Ashton also condemned the vote,
saying the European Union “does not recognize the constitutional and
legal framework” in which the elections were conducted and instead
urged a resolution to the conflict through the Minsk Group.
That group’s co-chairmen — Ambassadors Robert Bradtke of the United
States, Igor Popov of Russia and Jacques Faure of France — declared
the vote will have no bearing on their long-standing efforts to
negotiate a settlement.
“The co-chairs acknowledge the need for the de facto authorities in
(Nagorno-Karabakh) to try to organize democratically the public life
of their population with such a procedure,” they said. “However,
the co-chairs note that none of their three countries, nor any other
country, recognizes Nagorno-Karabakh as an independent and sovereign
state.”
They declared the “procedures” of last Thursday should in no way
“prejudge the final legal status of Nagorno-Karabakh or the outcome
of the ongoing negotiations to bring a lasting and peaceful settlement
to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.”
Turkey, a staunch supporter of Azerbaijan, declared the
Nagorno-Karabakh vote to be illegitimate, calling it “a total
contravention of international law and contrary to the expectations
of the international community.
“These elections which constitute a clear breach of the U.N. Security
Council resolutions and OSCE principles present a new example of the
unilateral efforts to legitimize the present unlawful situation in
Nagorno-Karabakh,” the Turkish Foreign Ministry said.
The Minsk Group mediators decried the lack of progress in settlement
talks during the Group of 20 meeting last month in Mexico declaring
their disappointment that Armenia and Azerbaijan “did not take the
decisive steps that our countries called for” last year at the G8
meeting in France.
Those steps included recognition by both sides of the “basic
principles” of the return of the territories surrounding
Nagorno-Karabakh to Azerbaijani control, the establishment of a
corridor linking Armenia to the enclave and the introduction of a
peacekeeping force, among other measures.