Bergkarabach

(Quelle: International Crisis Group (ICG)) Azerbaijan and Armenia should halt their dangerous arms race and restrain their belligerent rhetoric and instead renew efforts to find a negotiated settlement for the Nagorno-Karabakh region. “Nagorno-Karabakh: Risking War”, the latest report from the International Crisis Group, examines the dangers of ignoring the conflict both for the region and for the wider international community. … With both countries now building military capacity, neither believes it is time to compromise.

(Quelle: Reliefweb) A peaceful resolution to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is long overdue. Europe needs to step in and take charge of negotiations. … The OSCE has been able to keep the two sides talking (sometimes). But that's about it. Achieving a breakthrough settlement will take greater statesmanship on the part of the Armenian and Azeri leaders than either has shown, and more diplomatic weight than what the OSCE can offer.

(Quelle: Eurasianet) The self-declared Nagorno-Karabakh Republic has a new leader, Bako Saakian, who currently serves as the territory’s security chief. Saakian has tried to cast himself as a proponent of democratization, but his policy agenda at present contains few specifics. Saakian captured more than 85 percent of the vote in Karabakh’s July 19 presidential vote, with de facto Deputy Foreign Minister Masis Mailian garnering just over 12 percent, according to final figures released by the territory’s Central Election Commission.

(Quelle: IWPR) Observers say that official Karabakh Armenian candidate not assured of victory.There are two favourites amongst the four candidates contesting the July 19 election for the leadership of Nagorny Karabakh. Both men come from within the governing elite but one is the official candidate while the other is positioning himself as a potential reformer.

(Quelle: RFE/RL) There are five candidates officially running for president of Nagorno-Karabakh. Most observers say only one has any real chance of winning. Bako Sahakian, the former chairman of Nagorno-Karabakh's National Security Service, is backed by the unrecognized, separatist republic's ruling party, its two major opposition parties, and has a healthy lead in the polls.

(Quelle: Reliefweb) International recognition of Kosovo as an independent state would give new impetus to the sovereignty claim of Azerbaijan's breakaway Nagorno-Karabakh, a senior separatist said on Tuesday. Those opposing independence being granted to Serbia's province of Kosovo say it will set a legal precedent that could re-ignite separatist disputes elsewhere, especially in the former Soviet Union, scene of four unresolved 'frozen conflicts.'

(Quelle: Reliefweb) On July 19, voters in the unrecognized republic of Nagorno-Karabakh will elect a successor to Arkady Ghukasian, the former foreign minister who has served two successive presidential terms since 1997, when his predecessor Robert Kocharian was named Armenian prime minister. Of the five registered candidates, the clear favorite is Bako Sahakian, who resigned as National Security Service chairman to register for the ballot.

(Quelle: Eurasianet) Despite the recent goodwill visit by Azerbaijani intellectuals and diplomats, some Armenian civil society activists are taking an increasingly hard line on the 19-year dispute with Azerbaijan over the breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh. A statement issued by the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (ARF), a party that is a member of the governing coalition, underscored the changing mood.

(Quelle: Der Spiegel) International ist Berg-Karabach nicht als Republik anerkannt. Ein Krieg mit dem es umgebenden Aserbaidschan droht. Im Interview mit Spiegel Online erklärt der Präsident des Gebietes, Arkadij Gukassjan, warum die Armenier im Südkaukasus trotzdem einen eigenen Staat wollen.

(Quelle: Eurasianet) With talks on a resolution for the 19-year Nagorno-Karabakh conflict on the skids once again, the breakaway region’s de facto authorities are increasingly pushing for a new negotiating format, one that allows them to directly participate in the process. 'The current format of negotiations, in which only Armenia and Azerbaijan are involved, is unrealistic and destructive,' Arkady Ghukasian, the de facto president of the unrecognized Nagorno-Karabakh Republic, told reporters on June 7.