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National minorities have no right to establish separate state: Romanian secretary of state

Azerbaijan Materials 9 June 2009 17:39 (UTC +04:00)

Azerbaijan, Baku, June 9 / Trend , E. Ostapenko/ "We support sovereignty and territorial integrity of all states. This is our major principle. But we do not think that national minorities have right to establish a separate state," Secretary of State of the Romanian Foreign Ministry for Strategic Issues Bogdan Aurescu said in Baku.

Aurescu made clear Bucharest's official position about Kosovo's independence at a seminar "NATO in the 21st century" held as a part of the NATO Week in Azerbaijan.

Romanian secretary of state said Bucharest is of the same position on Nagorno-Karabakh.  

The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. Armenian armed forces have occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan since 1992, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and 7 surrounding districts. Azerbaijan and Armenia signed a ceasefire agreement in 1994. The co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group - Russia, France, and the U.S. - are currently holding the peace negotiations.

In February 2008, Kosovo Albanians declared their independence, which was immediately recognized by United States and leading EU member states. Kosovo has been recognized by 60 of the 192 UN member countries.

Spain, Greece, Slovakia and Romania refused to recognize the European Parliament resolution calling for the five EU member states to recognize Kosovo's independence.

On February 5, 2009, Member of the European Parliament adopted a resolution calling on member states - Cyprus, Spain, Greece, Slovakia and Romania - to recognize the independence of the Serbian province of Kosovo as has already been done 18 EU member states.

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