PanArmenian News
March 29 2005

VARDAN OSKANIAN: KARABAKH PROBLEM CAN BE SETTLED BY RECOGNIZING
KARABAKH PEOPLE’S RIGHT FOR SELF-DETERMINATION

29.03.2005 01:17

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The Nagorno Karabakh conflict cannot be resolved
militarily. Once there was a war and the Armenian party won it.
However the problem was not solved. It cannot be solved via working
out various documents confirming the territorial integrity of
Azerbaijan, as Karabakh will by now means agree to become a part of
Azerbaijan again», Armenian Foreign Minister Vardan Oskanian stated
at the hearings in the National Assembly, IA Regnum reports. In his
words Armenia is following three major principles: 1. Nagorno
Karabakh cannot be a part of Azerbaijan, 2. there should be overland
communication between Karabakh and Armenia, 3. the population of
Karabakh should be given real security guarantees. However, the key
item is Karabakh’s right for self-determination, he stressed. The
Minister also divided into 4 stages the cycle of negotiations that
has now gone on for over a decade. – The first stage began with the
OSCE Budapest Summit and ended with the OSCE Lisbon Summit. – The
second stage covered the post-Lisbon period through the change of
presidential administration in Armenia. – The third stage stretched
to the death of Father Aliyev. – And the fourth stage is the one
we’re in now, that started with the change of administration in
Azerbaijan. «The permanent institute of the OSCE Minsk Group
Co-Chairs formed in Budapest in 1994 made a successful effort in
reconciling the principles of territorial integrity and
self-determination. The result was the Common State document which
was rejected by Azerbaijan. Direct meetings between the presidents of
Armenia and Azerbaijan followed Azerbaijan’s rejection of the Common
State. All together, during the third stage the two presidents met
nearly two dozen times. They came to share an awareness of the need
for a comprehensive solution. Father Aliyev, accepting the
inevitable, tried to negotiate in a way as to reap such dividends
that would make the whole package acceptable to his people. The
result, in April 2001, was the Key West document, the second
important document created during this third stage. The Key West
document clearly affirmed the fact of the self-determination of the
people of Nagorno Karabakh. Thus, in the six years from Lisbon to Key
West, there had, in our opinion, been fundamental, radical changes in
thinking on this issue – changes in sync with contemporary
international developments and self-determination processes in
different parts of the world’, Vardan Oskanian said. `Azerbaijan’s
new authorities attempt to reverse the wheel of history. The
presidents do meet, although not with the former frequency. There is
a parallel track of foreign ministers meetings. During those talks,
the issue of Nagorno Karabakh’s status is always on the agenda.
Azerbaijan is part of those discussions. Despite Azerbaijan’s
engagement, and the efforts of the sides to search for an acceptable
resolution of the issue, Azerbaijan continues to attempt to
simultaneously introduce the Nagorno Karabakh issue in those
international forums which continue to abide by a traditional,
conservative approach to the issues of territorial integrity and
self-determination. The approach of those organizations is that when
the principles of territorial integrity and self-determination
clash with each other then the first receives preference all
conflicts should be treated within a single resolution
framework, regardless of the degree of legitimacy of
grievances and gravity of the issue if a deviation is allowed and
self-determination is recognized, it will become a precedent
and a domino effect will result. Their answer to claims of
self-determination is simply greater human rights and certain
economic benefits. This approach ignores a great many factors
including the role of history in shaping of one’s identity and
destiny’, he noted.