Sunday newspaper

BAKU Sun, September 29, 2006, Vol. 9, Issue 39

Azeri FM blames Armenia,
By sun staff

BAKU – Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov has accused Armenia of refusing direct talks with Azerbaijan to find a peaceful settlement to the ligering Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. Addressing the 61st session of the UN General Assembly on Tuesday, Mammadyarov also criticized Armenia for its “non-constructive” position on the Karabakh peace process.
Nagorno-Karabakh, a 4,400-sq km territory in southwestern Azerbaijan, was captured by Armenai, along with seven other Azerbaijani districts, during the 1988 – 194 hostilities between the two countries. During the the hostilities, 40,000 Azerbaijanis were expelled from Nagorno-Karabakh, along with another 700,000 driven from seven surrounding districts.
The occupied territories account for nearly 20 per cent of Azerbaijan’s total area.

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FM Mammadyarov said that the sides in the conflict and also in the socalled Minsk Group of the OSCE, which has been tasked with mediating peace talks between Armenia and Azerbaijan, believe, that a stage-by-stage settlement plan has no alternative, Turan reported. He pointed to two major points of disagreement between the conflicting sides.
“They are: achieving autonomous status for the population of Nagorno-Karabakh and Armenia’s withdrawal from the occupied territories of Azerbaijan, “Mammadyarov said in his speech to the UN General Assembly.
The foreign minister noted that Nagorno-Karabakh’s political status could be defined only after the region’s Azerbaijani community returns home. He also ruled out Nagorno-Karabakh’s secession from Azerbaijan. Azerbaijtan has proposed the highest level of autonomy for Nagorno-Karabakh. But the region’s unrecognized administration demands either independence or unification with Armenia.
“Our stance is that the occupying forces must withdraw from all the occupied territories unconditionally.” Mammadyarov said. “This position is in line with the UN Security Council and OSCE resolutions on the restoration of Azerbaijan’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.”


GUAM brings “frozen conflicts” to the UN
By Nikola Krastev

UNITED NATIONS – The countries that make up GUAM (now named the Organization for Democracy and Economic Development – GUAM) are pushing for a resolution of their “frozen” conflicts at the United Nations.
On the sidelines of the 61st UN General Assembly currently under way in New York, Georgian, Ukraine, Azerbaijan, and Moldova on September 25 held ministerial-level talks, where they discussed the conflicts in Nagorno-Karabkh, Abkhazia, South Ossetia and Transdniester.
In the last 15 years, frozen conflicts in the GUAM region, namely in Moldova Georgia, and Azerbaijan, have affected the lives of over 16 million people. Not only that, but they have remained a threat to international peace and security, according to the joint statement by the GUAM foreign ministers to the General Assembly

[…]


Russian Objections
Russia, however is not impressed. It dismissed the GUAM member states attempts to engage a wider UN audience in matters that Moscow considers foreign-policy priorities. In particular, Russia supports independence drives in Transdniester and South Ossetia.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov called the GUAM initiative a "propagandistic step" and said that hearing at the General Assembly will not produce anything positive.
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Any other interesting articles about the region???
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