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 Document 9 of 12                                           Page   1
 Classification:   UNCLASSIFIED       Status:        [STAT]
 Document Date:     08 Sep 90         Category:      [CAT]
 Report Type:      Daily Report       Report Date:
 Report Number:    FBIS-SOV-90-176    UDC Number:
 Headline:  Armenia-Azerbaijan Tension Continues on Border
 Source Line: NC0909115990 Yerevan Domestic Service in Armenian 1630
 GMT 8 Sep 90
 Subslug:   [Unattributed report: "Clouds Are Gathering Over Artsakh,
 Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast-- NKAO " ]
 FULL TEXT OF ARTICLE:
 1.  [Unattributed report: "Clouds Are Gathering Over Artsakh,
 Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast-- NKAO " ]
 2.  [Excerpts] With an enviable (?ability) the Azerbaijani
 authorities are exploiting the state of emergency situation virtually
 to eliminate Nagorno-Karabakh as an automous Armenian oblast. The
 occupation of the building housing the Martuninskiy Rayon Party
 Committee and the executive committee of Martuninskiy Rayon Soviet of
 People's Deputies was yet another step in eliminating the remnants of
 Soviet power in Nagorno-Karabakh. The incident-took n]ace_on -the-
 evening of 7 September.
 3.  The population of Askeran has temporarily frustrated a similar
 attempt in Askeranskiy Rayon with the assistance of the Internal
 Troops.
 4.  The aim of these [word indistinct] actions is to install the
 so-called organizational bureaus after the example in Gadrutskiy and
 Shaumyanovskiy Rayons.
 5.  The incident has sharply exacerbated the situation in the oblast
 and there is the danger that it could spin out of control. The
 Armenian population of NKAO is well aware that the present leadership
 of Azerbaijan has decided to appear decisive in it intention to
 eliminate the NKAO and thus win the assistance of the Azerbaijani
 people in this venture on the eve of the elections in that republic.
 6.  The people of Artsakh are resolved not to let themselves become
 pawns in the government's political intrigues for the fate of the
 people. Their very existence on the lands of their ancestors is in
 question. The people do not pin their hopes on the intervention of
 the Union Monitoring and Observation Commission, which in NKAO is
 dubbed as Unmonitoring and Sharply Sidelong-Observation Commission.
 And that is understandable.  Over this entire period Chairman Foteyev
 Approved f r Release
 UNCLASSIFIED                      ).2,0 to
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 Document 9 of 12                                                Page   2
 has been to the oblast far fever times than the flying saucers which
 have become a frequent occurence here.
 7.  There is no doubt that in the coming days, or even sooner, they
 would attempt to create organizational bureaus in Mardakertskiy Rayon
 and Stepanakert City as well, thus resolving all the problems: That
 is, the Armenian autonomous formation will exist no more. In this
 regard many urgent cables have been sent to numerous Union organs,
 though people have ceased to believe that their voice will be heard
 and those cables will on the whole reach their destination. It is no
 coincidence that this is being done on the eve of holidays.
 8.  One could definitely argue--and there is no other
 explanation--that Artsakh has been sacrificed to Azerbaijan.  This is
 what the 28 November 1989 infamous decision of the USSR Supreme
 Soviet led to [words indistinctl. The republican organizational
 committee which was supposed to reinstate the oblast administration
 organs is shamefully endorsing even the elimination of the lowest
 level of popular administration. And this is being carried out with
 the assistance of the Internal Troops of the USSR Internal Affairs
 Ministry.
 9.  It is hard to predict how the incidents will develop. This
 information was given to ARMENPRES at around 1200 and it is highly
 possible that the communication lines mi-g-h  5e severed again.
 10.  USSR People's Deputy Lyudmila Arutyunyan is in the oblast and
 she has witnessed the aforesaid actions of the Azerbaijani
 leadership. Yesterday she met the women's aktiv of Stepanakert.
 11.  According to the news received by an ARMENPRES correspondent
 from unofficial sources, after hearing about the inflammatory act by
 Azerbaijan, the people of Martuninskiy began to gather in Martuni on
 the morning of 7 September. The roads were blockaded. The people
 demanded that the representatives from Baku and their assistants in
 military uniforms leave the building housing the party rayon
 committee and its executive committee. Colonel Ovchinnikov, interim
 acting commandant of the state of emergency area, arrived at the
 scene of the incident. The situation was extremely tense.
 Ovchinnokov withdrew his subunits. The Azerbaijani representatives in
 the building were forced to evacuate it. The local employees have now
 reoccupied the building.
 12.  The outrageous lawlessness is continuing in Stepanakert airport.
 Yesterday, 7 September, the airplanes which had arrived from Yerevan
 were again detained, including the YAK-40 belonging to the Lithuanian
 civil aviation administration. [passage omitted)
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 Document 9 of 12                                                 Page   3
 13.  Apparently, such a shameful incident could happen today as well.
 Evidently, the Azerbaiajni leadership is intentionally provoking the
 Armenians to resort to illegal actions so as to justify their claims
 about the complex situation in NKAO, a situation which supposedly is
 not conducive to the election of local soviets there. Only time will
 show what further steps they will take.

