Disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh elects new parliament

Voters in the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh went to the polls Sunday to elect a new parliament in a vote the European Union warned it would not recognize as legitimate.

Armenia and Azerbaijan remain officially at war over Nagorno-Karabakh, and the dispute is a major source of tension in the strategic South Caucasus region, which is wedged between Iran, Russia and Turkey.

No country officially recognizes Karabakh as independent. “All polling stations are open. Elections are under way,” Mikael Hajian, the head of Karabakh’s central elections commission, told AFP.

Azerbaijan, which has vowed to return Karabakh under its control, condemned the elections as illegal. “Elections in the Armenian-occupied Karabakh region contradict Azerbaijan’s constitution and all the norms of international law,” Mazair Panakhov, chairman of Azerbaijan’s central elections commission, said in a statement this week.

The EU’s Foreign Affairs Chief Catherine Ashton also weighed in this week on the Karabakh poll and the need to negotiate an end to the long-running conflict. “The European Union does not recognize the constitutional and legal framework within which the ‘parliamentary elections’ in Nagorno-Karabakh will be held this Sunday,” Ashton said in a statement this week.

She stressed Europe’s “firm support” for the work of the OSCE Minsk Group, co-chaired by France, Russia and the United States, created in 1992 to seek a negotiated resolution to the conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia over Nagorno-Karabakh.

Source: Hurriyet Daily News
URL: www.hurriyetdailynews.com/n.php?n=disputed-region-of-nagorno-karabakh-elects-new-parliament-2010-05-23

Posted by admin May 2010

Post A Comment

Name (required)

Mail (will not be published) (required)

Website