At UN, a world stage for disputes often out of the spotlight

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The Middle East. Trade tensions. Iran's nuclear program. Venezuela's power struggle. Civil wars in Syria and Yemen. Familiar flash points such as these got plenty of airtime at the U.N. General Assembly's big annual gathering this week.

But some leaders used their time on the world stage to highlight international conflicts and disputes that don't usually command the same global attention.

A look at some of the less-discussed controversies trying to be heard:

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NAGORNO-KARABAKH

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan landed one of the coveted first few speaking slots, and he devoted a bit of his wide-ranging speech to a clash in the Caucasus: a standoff between Armenia and Azerbaijan over the Nagorno-Karabakh region.

The mountainous, ethnic Armenian area of about 150,000 people is recognized as part of Azerbaijan in U.N. Security Council resolutions dating to the 1990s. But Nagorno-Karabakh and some neighboring districts have been under the control of local ethnic Armenian forces, backed by Armenia, since a six-year separatist war ended in 1994.

Both Azerbaijan and Turkey have closed their borders with Armenia because of the conflict, cutting trade and leaving Armenia with direct land access only to Georgia and Iran.

Russia, the U.S. and France have co-chaired the so-called Minsk Group of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, attempting to broker an end to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

In speeches and rebuttals at the General Assembly, Armenia and Azerbaijan accused one another of misstating history, disrespecting human rights and standing in the way of a settlement.

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NORTH MACEDONIA

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres' "state of the world" address was largely a grim one , but he pointed to a few matters moving "in...