Moscow moves to quell trouble in Azerbaijan

Press, 25 February 1988, Page 8

Moscow moves to quell trouble in Azerbaijan

NZPA-Reuter Moscow The Kremlin has rushed two senior officials to the southern Soviet republic of Azerbaijan to quell disturbances among a predominantly Armenian population. The move highlights Moscow’s concern about minority nationalism. The officials carried with them a stern order from the Communist Party’s Central Committee to the local authorities to put a stop to the agitation. Demonstrations erupted over demands by Armenians that the autonomous region of Nagorno-Kara-bakh, where ethnic Ar-

menians are by far the majority, should be returned to neighbouring Armenia. The region became part of Azerbaijan when the borders were redrawn after the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution. Relations are tense between the traditionallyChristian Armenians and Azerbaijanis, who are usually Shi’ite Muslims. Hundreds of children and students joined a school boycott and the local Communist Party published a resolution calling for the boundaries to be reviewed. Witnessees said thousands of people had also

taken part in demonstrations in the Soviet Armenian capital, Yerevan. One estimated that 50,000 people took part in one protest. Analysts said the disturbances were, likely to weaken further the position of Armenian Party chief, Karen Demirchyan, who has already been criticised by the Russian leader, x Mikhail Gorbachev, for failing to implement Mr Gorbachev’s reform programme. Mr Demirchyan appeared on Armenian television on Monday, appealing for calm but he said the nationalities issue was not open to discus-

sion. This was clearly not considered sufficient by . Moscow which ordered ’ the authorities in Armenia and Azerbaijan “to normalise the situation around Nagorno-Kara-bakh”. The Soviet leadership has expressed increasing concern about the growth of nationalism in the Soviet republics, from the Baltic to Central Asia. Last week, Mr Gorbachev called for a special meeting of the Central Committee to find ways of ensuring harmony between Soviet national groups.