SHAVARSH KOCHARIAN: IMPLEMENTATION OF THEIR RIGHT TO
SELF-DETERMINATION BY KARABAKH PEOPLE IS EXCLUSIVE

YEREVAN, MARCH 31, NOYAN TAPAN. Implementation of the right to
self-determination by the Nagorno Karabakh people is exclusive not
only from the position of unexceptional legal basis, but also of other
possible criteria of self-determination. Shavarsh Kocharian, a member
of NA “Ardarutiun” (Justice) faction, the Chairman of the National
Democratic party, stated about it in his speech at the parliamentary
hearings dedicated to the Karabakh conflict settlement on March
29. According to him, among these criteria are, particularly, the
impossibility of existance of Armenians and Azeris in one republic,
the ethnic structure of the population, responsibility for
consequences of the self-determination.

The speaker emphasized that already for 15 years the NKR has been
funcioning a succesful independent state with all its attributes:
separation of powers, efficient army under the civic control, state
governance and local self-governance bodies formed by elections.

Touching upon the legal side of the conflict, the speaker mentioned,
that from the time of dissolution of the Soviet Union, two independent
and nations having equal rights, the Republic of Azerbaijan and the
NKR, were formed in the territory of the Soviet Republic of Azerbaijan.
Hence, the Nagorno Karabakh people have overcome in legitimate way the
principle of territorial completeness used towards Azerbaijan. In
Kocharian’s opinion, the terms “stage-by-stage” or “package” mustn’t
disguise the main problem of settlement, the status of the
NagornoKarabakh.

According to him, implementation of self-determination, used by
people’s expressing their will, must be the main pillar of Karabakh
settlement.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress