Top U.S. Official Says Karakbakh Deal “Possible” by Year’s End

Turkish Coalition of America

U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Daniel Fried stated that the dispute between Armenia and Azerbaijan over the Nagorno-Karabakh region of Azerbaijan could be resolved within the next two months. Fried has recently held talks in Yerevan with President Serzh Sarkisian, Prime Minister Tigran Sarkisian and Armenian opposition leaders. Reportedly, the Nagorno-Karabakh issue was high on the agenda.

Fried stated in an interview to Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty that the Georgian-Russian war had “reminded everyone how terrible war is” and that the danger of armed conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan, despite occasional cross-border skirmishes had “somewhat receded.”

Assistant Secretary Fried also referred to the “slow incremental process” of democratization on Armenian and reportedly urged Armenian leaders to release opposition members who were arrested following the February presidential election on what the international community regards as political charges.

With support from Russian forces, Armenian militia and military forces seized control of the Nagorno-Karabakh region of Azerbaijan. The armed conflict lasted from 1988 to 1994 and resulted in the occupation of almost 20 percent of Azerbaijan’s territory, killings thousands and resulting in the ethnic cleansing of over 600 thousand ethnic Azerbaijanis from the region. Baku says that one particularly bloody incident — the February 1992 Armenian capture of the town of Hodjali in which more than 600 civilians were massacred by Armenian forces — should be considered an act of genocide.

Source: www.turkishcoalition.org

Posted by admin October 2008

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