At
UN on
"Peaceful" Use
of Outer
Space,
Azerbaijan
&
Armenia Duel
on Seats
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
November 2
--The
"Peaceful"
Uses of Outer
Space
gave rise at
the UN to a
fight on
Friday
morning. Among
three new
members
proposed for
the topic's
Committee was
Armenia.
Azerbaijan
challenged it,
first in
Vienna then in
the General
Assembly's
Fourth
Committee.
The issue was
Nagorno
Karabakh,
which also
gave raise to
several rights
of reply in
the late night
sessions of
the General
Debate in
September.
But this was a
new foray,
seeking to
block Armenia
from a seat on
a relatively
obscure UN
committee. As
one diplomat
asked Inner
City Press
rhetorically,
is either one
in outer
space?
There
are a lot of
push back to
and votes
against
Azerbaijan.
Cyprus on
behalf of the
European Union
said this was
an attempt to
politicize
membership on
the Committee.
The UN is,
of course, a
political
place.
Algeria's
Permanent
Representative
said that his
country was
willing to
take
action against
"occupying
powers" --
which would
also
include Israel
-- but on a
forum like the
Security
Council, not
on
membership on
Committees.
After
the final
Committee
vote, where
Mongolia and
Turkey joined
Azerbaijan
in abstaining,
Turkey said
that more
effort should
have been put
into
coming to
consensus on
procedure, so
it had
abstained.
They were
called the
last speaker
on the item.
But the issue
is sure to
reappear.
Watch this
site.
Update:
Azerbaijan's
representative
was later
recognized to
explain its
vote
after the
vote, and
congratulated
the other new
members Jordan
and
Costa Rica.
Then he
proceeded to
say Armenia
was behind the
occupation of
20% of
Azerbaijan,
and made eight
percent of
Azerbaijanis
internally
displaced
persons. He
said Armenia
is not a
peaceful
country,
boding
badly for
outer space.
Armenia's
Permanent
Representative
finished
with a point
of order,
calling it a
fantasy to
link a
bilateral
issue
with outer
space.
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