Azerbaijan: Kosovo -- "an example" for separatist Karabakh
Reuters - 17 Jul 2007

STEPANAKERT, Azerbaijan, July 17 (Reuters) - 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."

"The Kosovo model of conflict settlement could be an example for the resolution of other conflicts," Nagorno Karabakh's separatist minister Masis Mailyan told Reuters in an interview.

"If it (Kosovo) is recognised, then it is interesting to me in that an unrecognised country has won recognition in spite of the opinion of its former sovereign rulers."

"In this sense the Kosovo model is an interesting one for us. That is to say, we could achieve recognition under a new scenario."

Russia is blocking a Western-backed proposal to set Kosovo on the path to independence, citing the fact that Belgrade does not want to relinquish sovereignty over its province.

Kosovo's Albanian majority has warned that could force it into a unilateral declaration of independence. If this happens, the United States and some European states have indicated they may recognise Kosovo as a sovereign state.

Nagorno-Karabakh's fight to split from Azerbaijan was the bloodiest of the former Soviet Union's separatist wars, with about 35,000 people killed and over a million forced to flee their homes.

The ethnic Armenian majority drove out Azerbaijan's forces and now runs its own affairs with support from neighbouring Armenia, but no state has recognised the region's independence.

Mailyan said Nagorno-Karabakh would keep pursuing a negotiated settlement with Azerbaijan in the hope that would lead to international recognition. Peace talks lasting more than 15 years have failed to make significant progress.

But he said recognition for Kosovo would encourage Nagorno-Karabakh to pursue a second track, to lobby foreign states and international organisations to grant it recognition with or without Azerbaijan's consent.

Elsewhere in the former Soviet Union, separatists in Georgia's South Ossetia and Abkhazia regions, and in Moldova's breakaway Transdniestria, are also seeking international recognition and say they are following developments in Kosovo with interest.

Posted for Fair Use only.