GEOPOLITICAL OVERVIEW OF CONFLICTS 2011 - Portal de ...

Francisco José Ruiz González
The Caucasus: Nagorno-Karabakh
Figure 4.3. Situation in Nagorno-Karabakh at the Time of the 1994
Ceasefire
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– Azerbaijan is re-arming for a renewed military aggression, exceeding the
levels of armament permitted by the CAFE (Conventional Armed Forces in
Europe) Treaty (18) , its leaders call for anti-Armenian violence and commit
excesses such as the destruction of the historic Armenian cemetery of Juga
to build a firing range.
– Azerbaijan has no interest in resolving the conflict, only in causing as much
harm as possible to Armenia, and it has no legal basis of any kind for laying
claim to Nagorno-Karabakh, a territory that has no future within Azerbaijan.
Speech by President Aliyev of Azerbaijan:
– As a result of Armenian ethnic cleansing, 20% of Azerbaijan’s territory is
under occupation and a million people have been driven from their homes.
– Armenia occupies not only Nagorno-Karabakh but also seven adjacent provinces,
where it is destroying Azeri villages, mosques and even tombs, as
well as having committed genocide in 1992 in the town of Khojaly (19) .
– Nagorno-Karabakh is a part of Azerbaijan, historically and legally; in spite
of the Armenian attitude, which is to seek confrontation and maintain the
status quo, Baku maintains its commitment to seeking a peaceful resolution
to the conflict.
(18)
Complete text of the Adapted Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe approved
at the OSCE Istanbul Summit in 1999, available at http://www.osce.org/library/14108.
(19)
The incidents that occurred in this Nagorno-Karabakh town on 25th and 26th February
1992 are described as genocide or massacre by Azerbaijan, which puts at 613 the number
of civilians assassinated by the Armenian militias, shot down as they tried to flee towards
territory under Azeri control. Armenia for its part refers to it as a battle or an event, minimises
the number of fatalities and blames it on the Azerbaijani militia defending the place, who they
say used the civilian population as human shields to enable them to flee to Azerbaijan.