ArmenPress
March 17 2004

ARMENIAN FM CALLS FOR ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF KARABAGH’S RIGHT TO
SELF-DETERMINATION

GENEVA, MARCH 17, ARMENPRESS: Addressing the 60-th session of the
UN Human Rights Commission in Geneva on March 16, Armenian foreign
affairs minister Vartan Oskanian described the brutal murder of an
Armenian officer in Budapest by an Azeri classmate as “an example of
ethnic enmity.”
Armenian foreign affairs ministry said that the minister
reiterated Armenia’s commitment to respect of human rights and
briefed the session on what has been achieved in Armenia to this end
in the last ten years, singling out, particularly, the abolition of
death penalty, appointment of the first ever ombudsman and
legislative reforms.
Oskanian explained that the existing discontents in the region are
the direct outcome of abuse of human rights and called on the
international community to acknowledge the right of Nagorno Karabagh
population to self-determination.
During a one-day visit to Geneva Oskanian met with Irish foreign
minister Bryan Kowen to discuss the Wider Europe project. He also had
meetings with his Swiss, Estonian and Luxembourg counterparts and
visited also the deputy UN Secretary General, the chief director of
the UN Geneva office Sergey Orjonikidze.