Azerbaijan Nullifies Area’s Vote to Secede
The republic of Azerbaijan annulled a vote by its Nagorno-Karabakh enclave to secede and join Armenia, Tass reported Wednesday, creating another stalemate in a territorial dispute that has caused months of ethnic turmoil.
The official news agency said the Presidium, or executive committee, of Azerbaijan’s Parliament met Tuesday night and declared “null and void” the motion of secession that the legislature of Nagorno-Karabakh had voted earlier that day.
Three-quarters of Nagorno-Karabakh’s 160,000 residents are ethnic Armenians, but it was made part of Azerbaijan in 1923.
The declaration of secession, which defied central authorities all the way up to Soviet leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev, was the first such action in the Soviet Union’s 70 years.
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