Azerbaijan (Armenians)

May 8, 1997

The Azerbaijani Committee of the Helsinki Citizens Assembly, an Azerbaijani human rights group, added its voice to a recent call for the protection of the rights of ethnic Armenians living in the republic. The ACHCA statement provoked a different reaction from a group of Azerbaijani veterans from the war over Nagornyy Karabakh. The veterans demonstrated outside ACHCA and conveyed a statement saying that "the state's position towards Armenians living in Azerbaijan was too soft and these Armenians should be shot". A statement was also issued by ethnic Armenians living in Shamkir in northeast Azerbaijan, who denied that their rights were being violated and said "on the contrary, their lives are happy and cheerful" (BBC).
Jul 30, 1997	On his first official visit to the United States, President Geidar Aliyev said that he would never grant independence to Nagorno-Karabakh. He said Azerbaijan would offer the enclave the highest degree of autonomy. Aliyev hinted that he might sign oil contracts with US giants Exxon, Chevron, Amoco and Mobil (AFP).
Aug 6, 1997	Azerbaijani President Geydar Aliyev announced that a trilateral agreement on the transportation of Caspian oil by the so-called "northern route" from Baku to Grozny to Novorossiisk would be signed soon. Kommersiant-Daily noted that this would not be an interstate but a commercial agreement, even though it would be signed by representatives of state institutions: the Russian Federation Ministry of Fuel and Power, the Azerbaijan Oil Company and the National Company of Chechnya. From an economic standpoint the "northern" route is far more advantageous for Azerbaijan, rather than the "southern" route through Georgia (Current Digest of the Post Soviet Press).
Aug 29, 1997	The presidents of Russia and Armenia signed a far-reaching strategic pact in the Kremlin which Yerevan considered more significant than Russia's union accord with Belarus. The friendship and cooperation treaty provided for mutual assistance in the event of a military threat to either party. The treaty stipulated that Russia was allowed to station 12,000 troops in Armenia and keep border-guards on Armenia's border with Turkey and Iran (AFP).
Sep 11, 1997	Minister of foreign affairs Arkady Gukasyan scored a victory at the early presidential elections in the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic. He was one of the hard-line supporters of Karabakh's independence and his election meant that the unrecognized republic would oppose the decision that was passed at the Denver summit viewing Karabakh as a part of Azerbaijan (Moscow News).
Oct 20, 1997	A group of planners from OSCE headquarters arrived in Baku to continue preparations for an operation designed to separate the warring forces in Nagorno-Karabakh. The operation is expected to take place after signing of a political agreement on the settlement of the conflict (ITAR-TASS).
Oct 23, 1997	Armenian President Levon Ter-Petrosyan declared that any future struggle for an independent Karabakh would be impossible and admitted that the conflict needed to be settled according to the plan forwarded by the co-chairmen of the OSCE Minsk group. The situation concerning Nagorno-Karabakh changed in the last year and a half. Baku undertook a series of measures, which resulted in a shift of political balance in its favor. Baku scored its biggest victory when the OSCE summit in Lisbon decided to support Baku's resolution on settling the conflict in Karabakh based on the principle of preserving Azerbaijan's territorial integrity. This principle paved the way for a new proposal from the co-chairmen of the Minsk group. At the same time, Moscow's support for Armenia and Stepanakert significantly weakened after agreements were reached at the Denver summit by the leaders of Russia, US and France (Moscow News).
Nov 4, 1997	The former Azerbaijani president and leader of the opposition People's Front of Azerbaijan Party (PFAP), Abulfaz Elchibey condemned the OSCE's latest proposals for a settlement of the Karabakh conflict. Speaking at a Baku news conference after his return from a four year internal exile Elchibey said that the OSCE's proposal to grant Karabakh a high level of autonomy within Azerbaijan was unacceptable (BBC).
Dec 10, 1997	A senior Azerbaijani oil official ruled out the option of laying the main pipeline for the export of the republic's Caspian oil across neighboring Armenia (BBC).
Dec 18, 1997	The new speaker of the Karabakh parliament, Oleg Yesayan, rejected the UN resolution describing Karabakh as the "Nagornyy Karabakh region of the Azerbaijani Republic", saying it could not be politically implemented at the moment (BBC).
Feb 4, 1998	The Armenian President Ter-Petrosian resigned amid a bitter conflict over a proposed peace deal for the region. Ter-Petrosyan's ministers accused him of selling out Karabakh to Azerbaijan. Ter-Petrosian's major opponent was Prime Minister Kocharian, who led the Armenian separatist campaign for independence from Azerbaijan. Ter-Petrosyan had agreed to a two-stage peace plan on Karabakh proposed by the OSCE. Under the plan, which was welcomed by Azerbaijan, Karabakh would have withdrawn from some of the occupied territories surrounding Karabakh. A 2,000-member United Nations peacekeeping force would monitor the region as refugees returned. Only in a second stage would they tackle the tricky issue of Karabakh's status and the remaining territories, including Lachin, that guard Karabakh's vital road link to Armenia. Ter-Petrosian wanted a peace settlement to end the economic blockage Azerbaijan and Turkey had imposed on landlocked Armenia and Karabakh (The Moscow Times).
Apr 1, 1998	Robert Kocharian won 59.3 percent of the votes cast in Armenia's presidential elections. Kocharian's challenger, former soviet-era communist leader Karen Demirchian, got 40.7 percent of the votes (Xinhua News Agency).
Apr 8, 1998	Armenian president-elect, Robert Kocharyan, offered to hold talks with Azerbaijani President Heydar Aliyev. "I am not a hawk. I am a pragmatist", Kocharian said. The Armenian leader added, however, that he found the current Azerbaijani proposals on the issue unacceptable. To reach any kind of settlement, Azerbaijan had to accept that Karabakh could not possibly return to Azerbaijani rule. Kocharian, 44, had led Karabakh Armenians during their six-year war with Azerbaijan over the status of the enclave before moving to Yerevan to pursue a political career in Armenia proper in 1997 (BBC).
May 23, 1998	"As an independent state and perhaps with restricted rights, Nagornyy Karabakh is ready to have horizontal relations with Azerbaijan", Nagornyy Karabakh President Arkadiy Gukasyan told the Armenian newspaper Respublika Armenia. Speaking after talks with the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairmen, Gukasyan said that he had put this stand to the co-chairmen and had met with no objectives (BBC).
May 28, 1998	Armenian Foreign Minister Vardan Oskanyan stressed that Armenia was not trying to achieve recognition of Nagornyy Karabakh's independence or to unite it with Armenia. Oskanyan said that Armenia's objective was to achieve lasting stability in the region but that it would not agree to Karabakh becoming part of Azerbaijan (BBC).
Jun 10, 1998	The president of the self-proclaimed republic of Nagorno-Karabakh, formally a part of Armenia, accepted the resignation of Prime Minister Leonard Petrosyan. The ex-premier believed that his resignation would lead to the easing of political tension in the self-proclaimed republic and normalize the work of Nagorno-Karabakh's state agencies. The government crisis in Karabakh developed as a result of a sharp disagreement between Petrosyan and Defense Minister Lieutenant-General Samvel Babayan (ITAR-TASS).
Jun 13, 1998	Arkadi Gukasian, self-declared president of Nagornyy Karabakh, replaced his prime minister Leonard Petrosian with Jirair Pogossian. Pogossian, born in 1942, had been deputy Prime Minister since August 1992 (AFP).
Jun 19, 1998	Armenian Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanyan said that Armenia was interested in an early resumption of the talks on the Karabakh settlement. If the conflict was not settled in the next three or four years, Armenia would have to demand that Nagorno-Karabakh merge with Armenia. This would require creating a political and military union to oppose Azeri military threat, Oskanyan added (ITAR-TASS).
Jun 22, 1998	Azerbaijani Defense Minister Saraf Abiev received a NATO delegation which was presided over by deputy commander B. McCendry (Defense and Security).
Jul 18, 1998	Media reports predicted a new war between Armenia and Azerbaijan. Reports were based on the announced Armenian withdrawal from the so-called Lisbon principles, which followed after the election of Robert Kocharian as the President of Armenia. Armenian Foreign Minister Oskanyan pointed out that Armenia had never accepted the Lisbon principles. Oskanyan also said that there were grounds for the independence of Nagorno-Karabakh or its reunification with Armenia. However, the Foreign Minister noted, Armenia wanted to compromise over the status of the territory and saw as an acceptable solution the creation of horizontal links between Karabakh and Azerbaijan (Russian Press Digest).
Aug 15, 1998	An opposition rally in Baku demanded the resignation of Azerbaijan's leadership because of its inability to liberate the disputed enclave of Nagornyy Karabakh and fight corruption in the upper echelons of power (ITAR-TASS).
Oct 16, 1998	President of Azerbaijan, Heydar Aliyev, said that he was the winner of the 11 October presidential elections, which he described as democratic, free and fair. Aliyev urged the opposition to refrain from attempts to assume power by force and invited it to enter a dialogue (BBC).
Dec 17, 1998	Deputy Foreign minister of Azerbaijan Araz Azimov accused Russia of delivering military aircrafts to Armenia and demanded their instant removal. Azimov said that Azerbaijan was directing its protests over the fighter jet delivery toward Russia rather than Armenia because Moscow purported to be a neutral party in the dispute (AFP).
Feb 5, 1999	Azerbaijan offered to be host to the first American military base on former Soviet territory (The New York Times).
Feb 25, 1999	Azerbaijani Defense Ministry spokesman Ramiz Melikov said that Armenia was preparing to annex Azerbaijan's southern province of Nakhichevan. Nakhichevan is a 5,500-square kilometer strip of land populated by 250,000 Azeris which borders Armenia on one side and Iran and Turkey on the other. It can be reached by Azerbaijan only through Iran. Armenia cut off Azerbaijan’s rail link to the region when fighting broke out over Nagorno-Karabakh (AFP).
Mar 1, 1999	Azerbaijan Defense Minister Colonel General Safar Abiyev confirmed the report that a Turkish, US, or NATO military base may be stationed on its territory. During a recent visit to Turkey, "[W]e discussed the possibility of concluding a military alliance between Baku and Ankara which would be similar to the Russian-Armenian alliance." The Defense Minister also emphasized that Azerbaijan did not intend to extend its participation in the CIS Collective Security Treaty for another five years. He also stated that Baku intended to shut down a Russian strategic military facility in Azerbaijan.
Mar 6, 1999	The President of the self-declared Nagornyy Karabakh Republic, Arkadiy Gukasyan, said that the principle of a "common state" put forward by the OSCE Minsk Group was unacceptable as a final solution to the Karabakh conflict. However, he maintained that it could serve as a basis for the resumption of negotiations. He furthermore added that he did not think that Azerbaijan would resume hostilities in the near future and did he take seriously the talk about deploying NATO military bases in Azerbaijan. Gukasyan denied that there were serious disagreements between Armenian and Karabakh leadership (BBC).
Mar 16, 1999	A delegation of Nagornyy Karabakh headed by President Arkadiy Gukasyan visited the United States. Commenting on the results of the visit, Gukasyan said that Nagornyy Karabakh had declared its independence according to international norms and laws and had de facto independence and sovereignty. He also said that Stepanakert had consciously taken a risk and accepted the peace plan to settle the conflict proposed by the international mediators on the basis of the common state principle, which was also supported by Armenia but turned down by Azerbaijan (BBC).
Mar 19, 1999	The European Parliament adopted a resolution on Nagornyy Karabakh. The resolution expressed support for the latest plan by the OSCE Minsk Group, based on the principle of a "common state" (BBC).
Mar 23, 1999	A group of senior Pentagon representatives, specialists in the area of military-political planning, arrived in Baku. The US military delegation held talks with the president of Azerbaijan and senior officials in the republic's Ministry of Defense and Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The American military were given a tour to appraise the condition of Nasosnaya air force base (BBC).
Mar 24, 1999	Foreign Minister of Armenia, Vardan Oskanyan, said that the latest plan for settlement of the Nagornyy Karabakh conflict was a compromise option giving the parties to the conflict an opportunity to display good will and to resume the talks process. The plan, put forward by the co-chairmen of the OSCE Minsk Group, is based on the principle of a common state, (BBC).
Apr 21, 1999	A new political party, the right-centrist Armenakan Party, was established in Nagornyy Karabakh. Boris Arushanyan, head of the NKR National Assembly commission for foreign relations, was elected its chairman (BBC).
Apr 26, 1999	A meeting of the Azerbaijani, Georgian, and Armenian presidents was held in Washington. The talks centered on issues of regional cooperation and resolution of conflict. The NATO foreign ministers told the three presidents that Kosovo was not a model for resolution of conflicts (BBC).
May 11, 1999	The foreign minister of Nagornyy Karabakh, Naira Melkumyan, said that the most important result of the negotiations between Armenian and Azerbaijani presidents, Robert Kocharyan and Heydar Aliev, was the change of atmosphere in the region. She added that Aliyev and the Azeri public had to grasp that there could be no settlement of the Karabakh conflict without involving the Karabakh president in the negotiation process (BBC).
May 20, 1999	The 17 scholars who make up the All-Azerbaijani Movement for Karabakh put forward proposals to settle the conflict with Armenia. They proposed limited autonomy for Nagornyy Karabakh within Azerbaijan and the withdrawal of Armenian troops from the occupied territories to be replaced by UN and OSCE peacekeepers. The so-called Lachin corridor linking Armenia and Karabakh would be a special transit zone (BBC).
May 26, 1999	Ara Papian, a spokesman for the Armenian Foreign Ministry, said that the "common state principle", offered by the OSCE as the core of a Karabakh settlement, was the "maximum compromise" Armenia was ready to yield. He said "the last initiative of the Minsk-based OSCE group co-chairmen, containing the common state principle, was acceptable for Yerevan as the basis for the start of negotiations." The spokesman explained that in line with the OSCE plan, Karabakh could be a semi-autonomous and fully independent state. "The independence of Karabakh is our long term objective, but we have given it up for the sake of finding a solution, for the sake of a compromise," Papian said (Interfax Russian News).
May 28, 1999	Azerbaijani Speaker Murtuz Aleskerov said that the Political Committee of the Council of Europe favored the simultaneous admission of Armenia and Azerbaijan to the Council as a way of settling the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. Aleskerov said that the Council of Europe would discuss Azerbaijani's admission not later than January 2000 (BBC).
Jun 18, 1999	The commander of the armed forces of Karabakh, Samvel Babayan, said that if the talks on the settlement of the conflict were not restarted by the end of May, a resumption of military operation was possible (Russian Press Digest).
Jun 18, 1999	Armenian Defense Minister Vagarshak Arutyuian disavowed Azerbaijani reports saying that Karabakh armed forces had initiated a ceasefire violation in the Mardakert section of Karabakh. Military leadership investigated the incident that took place on June 14. "Either the Azerbaijani side has made no sense of the situation, does not control its troops, or makes such statements for political goals," Arutyuian said (Interfax News Agency).
Jun 18, 1999	Nagornyy Karabakh accused Azerbaijan of exacerbating the tension on the Karabakh-Azerbaijani border. Karabakh authorities said that Azerbaijan was behind clashes that broke out near the disputed region. A communique from Stepanakert said that "in reality the Azeri armed forces carried out intensive fire against the military forces of Karabakh" (BBC).
Jun 19, 1999	Armenia proposed posting permanent OSCE monitors on the border between Karabakh and Azerbaijan to head off possible truce violation in the region. A number of serious exchanges of fire with casualties occurred along the line, dividing the Azerbaijani army and units of the self-proclaimed Karabakh republic (Interfax Russian News).
Jul 17, 1999	It was reported that the political crisis in Nagornyy Karabakh was deepening gradually. Armenian President Robert Kocharyan sent additional military units to Karabakh. Azerbaijani Turan news agency reported that Karabakh Armenian leader, Arkadiy Gukasyan, was increasing his attacks on Defense Minister Samvel Babayan (BBC).
Jul 17, 1999	Ahead of his meeting in Geneva with Azerbaijani President Heydar Aliev, Armenian President Robert Kocharyan said that Armenia demanded equal status for the breakaway Nagornyy Karabakh Republic as part of any peace settlement (BBC).
Jul 19, 1999	It was reported that Azerbaijani authorities intensified their harassment of selected opposition politicians, groups and newspapers. The reprisals had targeted not established opposition parties, but individuals or movements that had sought to capitalize on popular discontent (Middle East News Items).
Jul 22, 1999	In an interview for the Armenian news agency Snark, Nagornyy Karabakh Foreign Minister Naira Melkumyan said that autonomy would not be on the agenda of future negotiations. The only options for Karabakh were independence or the common state principle, she said. The army, finance and state structure of Karabakh must be independent, she added (BBC).
Aug 7, 1999	State Foreign Policy Adviser Vafa Guluzade said that the Azerbaijan-Georgia-Turkey route for the main export oil pipeline (MEOP) had been confirmed and would not be changed. Guluzade's statement came as a reply to a statement made by the Armenian deputy power engineering minister, saying that laying the MEOP through Armenia would "be 500m dollars cheaper than any other option." Guluzade said that if the staged plan of the OSCE Minsk Group on settling the Karabakh conflict had been adopted, the question of laying one branch of the oil pipeline via Armenia could have been discussed. As the staged plan was rejected "Armenia missed its chance," he said (BBC).
Aug 19, 1999	Nagornyy Karabakh republic President Arkadiy Gukasyan and the Armenian Foreign Minister, Vardan Oskanyan, who was on a short-term working visit to Stepanakert, discussed the organizational issues of preparation and conduct for the All-Armenian Congress. The two political leaders also discussed issues of cooperation been the two countries' Foreign Ministries (BBC).
Sep 8, 1999	Karabakh Defense Minister Seyran Oganyan said that the people of Karabakh had to protect all that they had achieved since independence. He said that Karabakh was de facto independent with its own statehood (BBC).