Tag Archives: border disputes

Georgia criticises UEFA

MAY 3 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Georgia’s football association said it was disappointed that UEFA, Europe’s football governing body, voted to allow Kosovo, a Balkan country that broke away from Serbia in 2008, to become its 55th member. For Georgia, the issue of breakaway states being given any recognition is a sensitive one. It has two breakaway states — South Ossetia and Abkhazia — which are supported by Russia.

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(News report from Issue No. 279, published on May 6 2016)

3 Armenian and Azerbaijani soldiers die around N-K

APRIL 28 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – At least three soldiers and one civilian have died in gunfights over the past week between Azerbaijani and Armenian fighters in the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh, media reported. Earlier this month, the worst fighting for over decade killed several dozen people and tipped the two neighbours towards all-out war.

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(News report from Issue No. 278, published on April 29 2016)

War and smiles in Azerbaijani-Armenian disputed territory

SHUSHI/Azerbaijan, APRIL 22 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — The high mountains, steep cliffs and green landscapes are a pleasure to the eye, but Nagorno Karabakh feels empty, quiet and sad.

From the Armenian border to Shushi, one of the disputed region’s larger towns, several ghost-like settlements hug the road.

Shushi itself is strewn with rubble but not from fighting that sparked earlier this month, the worst since a UN brokered ceasefire was imposed in 1994. This rubble was from fighting in the early 1990s when Christian Armenian-backed fighters took the town from Muslim Azerbaijani soldiers. The abandoned mosques lie testament to that.

Saro Saryan, an ethnic Armenian originally from Baku, brought out a bottle of vodka and insisted that it must be finished before morning was out. He fled Baku in 1990.

His son sat beside him, silent, eyes glued to his iPad. He was back from fighting against Azerbaijani forces.

Saryan, now flush with vodka, chipped in. “I’m extremely proud of my son for volunteering to fight on the front lines. Karabakh is a proud country and we’ll fight till the end for our historical right,” he said.

In contrast to Shushi’s emptiness, the streets of Stepanakert, the Armenian capital of Nagorno-Karabakh, are clean and filled with people. Military convoys rumble past, children ride bikes, a lady walks her dog.

The locals may flash a friendly smile but the stress of war is never far away. “Many families left Karabakh once the conflict resumed, it’s sad. But what can they do?” said 30-year-old Zara.

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(News report from Issue No. 277, published on April 22 2016)

Russia continues selling weapons to Armenia and Azerbaijan

APRIL 9 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Russia said that it will continue to sell weapons to both Armenia and Azerbaijan, Russian PM Dmitri Medvedev told Russian media, despite the worst outbreak in violence earlier this month between the two neighbours since 1994. Mr Medvedev said that if Russia stopped selling weapons to Armenia and Azerbaijan, they would simply buy them from another country which would, potentially, by more dangerous.

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(News report from Issue No. 276, published on April 15 2016)

Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan work on border dispute

APRIL 12 2016, DUSHANBE (The Conway Bulletin) — Working groups of the Tajik and Kyrgyz governments met in Dushanbe to decide on the demarcation of the disputed borders between the two countries ahead of a meeting between two two presidents in May.

Both sides have talked up the new round of negotiations as a potential breakthrough deal. Of the 970-kilometre border Tajikistan shares with Kyrgyzstan, 451km remain disputed.

Most of the contested areas are fertile lands, which are a key assets for the rural population in a region still marred with conflict.

In one of the latest clashes, last July, a Tajik civilian was killed during a shootout between Tajik and Kyrgyz border-guards.

A Dushanbe-based analyst who wished to remain anonymous said governments had only now sat down seriously to discuss the border row because of heightened tension.

“The conflict has now escalated and both sides have started using weapons. Both governments realised that they can no longer ignore the problem,” the analyst said.

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(News report from Issue No. 276, published on April 15 2016)

Armenia and Azerbaijan hold shaky ceasefire over N-K

APRIL 14 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – A fragile ceasefire between Azerbaijan and Armenia-backed forces continued to hold around Nagorno-Karabakh, although there were reports of sporadic fighting.

Armenia-backed forces said they lost 97 soldiers and militiamen in the worst fighting over the disputed region since a ceasefire was imposed in 1994.

Azerbaijan’s government has not disclosed a final tally, but dozens were reported killed during intense battles that started on April 2.

Both sides blame the other for starting the fighting. The international community has urged Armenia and Azerbaijan to sue for peace.

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(News report from Issue No. 276, published on April 15 2016)

‘Shells rained down on us,’ say people in N-K, Armenia-Azerbaijan disputed region

APRIL 15 2016, TALISH, Azerbaijan (The Conway Bulletin) — The shells began falling at 3am on April 2.

Vilen Petrosyan, head of the tiny hamlet of Talish in northeast Nagorno-Karabakh, a region disputed between Azerbaijan and Armenia backed fighters, had gone to sleep late because the next day was his birthday.

He and relatives had prepared a cake and 12kg of meat for shish kebab. Guests and relatives were expected to join the celebrations from neighbouring villages.

But instead of a leisurely breakfast with gifts and compliments, Mr Petrosyan and his family were torn from their beds by the sound of artillery.

The 52-year old ran out on to his balcony to see shells ploughing into homes, a kindergarten and other buildings. “In ten minutes, the village shop was on fire,” he said in an interview with a Conway Bulletin correspondent. “Then ten minutes later, a tractor.”

Azeri troops crossed the frontline, locals said. The bodies of a couple in their late 60s and the man’s 92-year- old mother were later found in their home. Armenian residents said that

Azerbaijani soldiers had shot them dead and then sliced off their ears.

This was the start of four days of battles that killed several dozen people in the worst fighting since a 1994 ceasefire was imposed.

Since 1994, Armenia-backed fighters have controlled and run Nagorno- Karabakh, although it is still recognised by the international community as part of Azerbaijan.

The leadership of the unrecognised republic has argued that Azerbaijan started the violence, aiming to recapture lost land. Azerbaijan, meanwhile, said its military fired in response to an Armenian attack – and that a school, houses and factories were hit on its side.

A unit of pro-Armenia fighters eventually beat back the Azerbaijani fighters from Talish but people fled the village on the day of the shelling. Mr Petrosyan said he doesn’t know if all will return.

“There are 170 children in the village,” he said. “So many explosions, this is hard for them. We must get around a negotiating table with the Azeris and agree a real peace.”

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(News report from Issue No. 276, published on April 15 2016)

Italy dismisses Georgian rebel region

APRIL 1 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – The Italian Foreign Ministry dismissed a claim that the alleged new embassy of South Ossetia in Rome has any official status. Earlier, the Kremlin-backed Sputnik news agency reported the imminent opening of a representative office for South Ossetia in Rome. The Italian ministry said its official position “is to refuse recognition of the independence and sovereignty of South Ossetia.” Only Russia and a handful of countries looking to curry favour with the Kremlin have followed this lead and recognised South Ossetia as an independent country.

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(News report from Issue No. 275, published on April 8 2016)

Azerbaijan- Armenia fighting over N-K threatens Europe’s plans

APRIL 2 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – For Europe, the fierce fighting this week between Azerbaijani forces and Armenian-backed forces was a reminder that their plan to bring the South Caucasus firmly into its economic sphere is a risky one.

Eight years ago Russia and Georgia fought over the rebel region of South Ossetia. Now Azerbaijan and Armenia are close to all-out war over another sliver of land.

Wedged between these two scruffy, mountainous regions is the trade corridor that Europe relies on to transport goods to and from the Caspian Sea and Asia.

Theodoras Tsakiris, assistant professor for energy, geopolitics, and economics at the University of Nicosia in Cyprus told RFE/RL that two major pipelines pumping oil gas to Europe which lie just north of the conflict zone could be effected.

“A potential conflagration over Nagorno Karabakh is quite likely to affect both of these pipelines,” he said. “They are of critical significance primarily for Azerbaijan, then Turkey and, to a lesser extent, Europe and the global economy.”

European officials have avoided mentioning trade and gas exports from the South Caucasus in their comments on the fighting and have instead focused on calling for a full ceasefire but bureaucrats across Europe’s capitals will be troubled by the conflict.

Central to their plan is to build a network of pipelines stretching from the Caspian Sea across Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey into Europe. Gas from this route, dubbed the Southern Gas Corridor, would start to compete with Russian supplies.

Sections of the pipeline, after all, run only 40km north of the frontlines in Nagorno-Karabakh.

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(News report from Issue No. 275, published on April 8 2016)

Worst fighting erupts between Armenia and Azerbaijan over N-K

APRIL 2 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Serious fighting broke out between Azerbaijani forces and Armenian backed forces around the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh, smashing a tense ceasefire that had been in place for 22 years.

Casualty numbers were difficult to gauge but at least several dozen people were killed in the fighting, mainly soldiers. Video footage showed both sides firing rockets and pounding well dug-in positions with heavy artillery, as well as deploying tanks and helicopters.

Alarmed that the fighting could escalate, world leaders urged both sides to sue for peace.

From Washington, John Kerry, US secretary of state, said: “The United States condemns in the strongest terms the large-scale ceasefire violations along the Nagorno-Karabakh Line of Contact, which have resulted in a number of reported casualties, including civilians.”

Russian President Vladimir Putin dispatched Dmitri Medevedev to talk to both Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan in Yerevan and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev in Baku.

As the Bulletin went to press a two-day-old ceasefire held, although there were reports of sporadic fighting.

When the Soviet Union fractured in the late 1980s and early 1990s, localised ethnic tension started to explode into pockets of fighting. Nagorno- Karabakh, a region that belonged to Azerbaijan was one of these region. It was populated mainly by ethnic Armenians who wanted to break away.

After years of fighting that killed 30,000 people the UN negotiated a ceasefire in 1994 that left Armenia- backed rebels running the region.

Thomas de Waal, one of the foremost commentators on the South Caucasus, wrote in the New York Times that the conflict could spread.

“A new all-out Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is the stuff of nightmares. Given the sophisticated weaponry both sides now possess, tens of thousands of young men would most likely lose their lives,” he said.

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(News report from Issue No. 275, published on April 8 2016)