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Sydney Morning Herald (Australia)

April 5, 1993 Monday Late Edition ARMENIAN OFFENSIVE BREAKS THROUGH; BACKS IN BATTLE OVER NAGORNO-KARABAKH WITH EMBARGO ON FOOD AID AND WARNING SORTIES.

BYLINE: ROBERT HAUPT Herald Correspondent

SECTION: NEWS AND FEATURES; Pg. 8

LENGTH: 571 words

MOSCOW, Sunday: Turkey responded firmly yesterday to an Armenian offensive that seems likely to open a second land corridor to the disputed enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh.

After earlier denials, Azerbaijan acknowledged that it had lost control of the strategic town of Kelbadzhar. Armenian forces were within 100 kilometres of the enclave, raising the possibility of a pincer movement to catch Azeri forces between this and the 100 kilometres to the south.

Turkey responded yesterday to this sudden raising of the stakes in the three-year conflict with clear support for Azerbaijan, its Islamic neighbour. An embargo on Western food aid to blockaded was announced and the Turkish Air Force flew warning sorties along the border with Armenia, Itar-Tass news agency reported from Ankara.

Azerbaijan withdrew from peace talks between the two sides in Geneva. Its Foreign Minister, Mr Tofig Gassimov, said the talks could not continue unless Armenian forces withdrew from Kelbadzhar, Reuter reported. Turkey reluctantly agreed to allow food deliveries to Armenia recently, under pressure from the US, where there is a vocal Armenian lobby. It was also expected to begin supplying electricity to the tiny republic, which has been rationing power to two hours a day.

Turkey's Deputy Prime Minister, Mr Erdal Inonu, said yesterday: "Nobody should expect Turkey to allow the passage of aid to a country that says it is starving and poor, yet has the military power to burn and wreck cities where thousands of people live."

Kelbadzhar was taken after an intensive artillery attack and air bombardment, Interfax news agency reported, quoting the Azerbaijani defence ministry. Forces advancing from Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh had captured 25 villages and surrounded another 32 in the region. About 20,000 people had fled, Interfax said.

President ordered a state of emergency in Azerbaijan yesterday. Earlier, Parliament appealed to the UN and the Conference on Security and Co-operation in Europe to condemn Armenia as an aggressor. Page 2 ARMENIAN OFFENSIVE BREAKS THROUGH; TURKEY BACKS AZERBAIJAN IN BATTLE OVER NAGORNO-KARABAKH WITH EMBARGO ON FOOD AID AND WARNING SORTIES. Sydney Morning Herald (Australia) April 5, 1993 Monday

Armenia denied that its armed forces were involved in the latest action, saying that it was being conducted by the self-defence forces of Nagorno-Karabakh. A spokesman for the Armenian defence ministry said the action was a response to Azeri attacks on the Lachin corridor, which had raised the issue of "whether Nagorno-Karabakh will be or will not be".

The Russian foreign ministry yesterday deplored the latest fighting, saying that it could not be allowed to paralyse peace efforts.

Russia was being dragged into a Caucasian conflict yesterday, when the Defence Minister of Georgia, Mr Tengiz Kitovani, said that Russian planes supporting Abkhazian separatists in the west of the republic would be shot down by Government forces.

General Kitovani said in an interview with Interfax on Friday that an attack by Russian SU-25 planes on Georgian positions near the regional capital, Sukhumi, on April 1 was aimed at "aggravating relations between the two States".

He said he would meet the Russian Defence Minister, Mr Pavel Grachev, on Tuesday and arrange a meeting between Presidents and Eduard Shevardnadze.

The head of Russian forces in Abkhazia, Colonel-General Aleksei Alekseyev, demanded on Friday that Georgian forces stop shelling Russian installations. If not, "each shot will be answered with a crushing blow to all operating sources of fire", he said.

LOAD-DATE: July 21, 2007

LANGUAGE: ENGLISH

GRAPHIC: Map: Nagorno-Karabakh

PUBLICATION-TYPE: Newspaper

Copyright 1993 John Fairfax Publications Pty Ltd All Rights Reserved