Soviet Armenia Votes to Unite Republic With Disputed Region

The parliament of Soviet Armenia voted Friday to unite the republic with the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh, local journalists reported.

Armenian nationalists want control of the region, which is located within neighboring Azerbaijan, a mostly Muslim republic, but is populated mostly by Christian Armenians. It has been the scene of repeated ethnic strife.

The Armenian Supreme Soviet, or parliament, also denounced a Moscow ruling to hand back control of the territory to Azerbaijan. The central government has been administering the region because of the violence.

“The declaration says that we are now one republic,” a journalist from Armenian television said.

The vote was the most extreme act of defiance by Armenia since the crisis started nearly two years ago, when the territory’s leaders requested union with Armenia, saying their culture was being repressed by the Azerbaijani government.

More than 120 people have died in the last two years in fighting over the region. On Wednesday, at least two people died in clashes that came after the national Supreme Soviet, or parliament, in Moscow passed measures that place Nagorno-Karabakh largely under Azerbaijani control.

“The (Armenian) parliament . . . does not accept the resolution, considering it unconstitutional, against the spirit of perestroika (restructuring) and contradicting the principle of self-determination,” said the television journalist.