The NKR foreign minister upbeat on international recognition of Karabakh

Nagornyy Karabakh Foreign Ministry, Stepanakert
6 Apr 05

Excerpt from press release by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of
the Nagornyy Karabakh Republic on 6 April headlined “The NKR foreign
minister: Nagornyy Karabakh will obtain international recognition of
its independence”

6 April 2005

Delivering a speech at the 29-30 March hearings on “The problem of
Nagornyy Karabakh. The ways of settlement” at the Armenian parliament,
the NKR [Nagornyy Karabakh Republic] foreign minister [Arman Melikyan]
stated the NKR’s intention to consecutively obtain its international
recognition.

The minister stressed the impeccability of the legal basis and the
procedure of declaring the NKR independence, on the basis of which
Stepanakert was constructing its foreign policy. At the same time,
Arman Melikyan noted that the NKR leadership deferred the goal of
achieving international recognition of the NKR for the Nagornyy
Karabakh conflict settlement. “The goal of the settlement comes from
the one of liquidation of the consequences of the war unleashed by
Azerbaijan, and cannot follow the goal of achieving international
recognition of the NKR. We conduct this process separately and we
intend to lead it to its logic end,” he noted. According to the
NKR foreign minister, the Karabakh leadership found the necessary
prerequisites for international recognition of the NKR and aspired
to create them in its practical policy for achieving the aim.

Speaking on the current situation in the negotiation process on the
Karabakh settlement, Arman Melikyan noted the presence of the elements
in it causing Stepanakert’s definite anxiety. Nagornyy Karabakh was
actually ousted of the frames of the negotiation process in the period
of the so-called Paris process, when, as it was confirmed, the parties
were very close to the mutual understanding and compromises. However,
via the denial of the compromise variant, the Azerbaijani party tried
to present Armenia as an aggressor and has conducted this policy up
to this day. “It causes our anxiety. We think it necessary to take
effective steps to overcome the Azerbaijani policy consequences which
become more noticeable,” Melikyan said.

At the same time, the NKR foreign minister stated that he could not
affirm that the situation developed negatively for international
recognition of the NKR. “There are changes that can actually lead
to international recognition of the NKR in future and we will try to
quicken this process,” Melikyan said. In this connection, he noted that
on 29 March at the session of the NKR government a package of draft
laws had been discussed which were aimed at organizing the activity
in the foreign policy sphere. This package includes also draft laws on
the NKR joining two international conventions on diplomatic relations
and on consular relations.

[Passage omitted: details of documents]

He considered necessary to recall one more important factor
which “being fundamental, for some reason is withdrawn from the
negotiations process”. The issue regards the Armenians who once lived
in Azerbaijan. When the talk touches upon refugees, as a rule, they
usually mean Azerbaijani displaced from Armenia and Nagornyy Karabakh
to Azerbaijan, and partly – the Armenians who escaped from the NKR
Shaumyan , Mardakert Districts and other Karabakh territories,
which are fully or partly occupied by Azerbaijan. “We constantly
forget about a great number of people, who found themselves out of
the process and whose interests are not protected by anybody at the
international stage. The NKR authorities consider it their duty,”
the head of the NKR Ministry of Foreign Affairs stressed.

Trying to follow these people’s destiny, the Karabakh leadership held
a monitoring in one of the regions of Russia, where many Armenians
lived. According to the data received, about 45,000 Armenians
from Azerbaijan have found refuge in that Russian region since the
beginning of the Karabakh events. Almost half of them got Russian
citizenship. A small part of them about 1,000-1,500 people – became
citizens of Armenia. The rest have no citizenship yet.

Melikyan noted that such was the situation only in one region of
Russia. He pointed out the necessity of consecutive dealing with
this problem, like Azerbaijan did, and the ability to present
the interests of the Armenian refugees at the international stage
including the restoration of the material and other losses suffered
by them. “It is a very important goal at the resolution of which the
law on citizenship worked out in the NKR is directed. It is almost
ready. After the experts’ examination, in the nearest 10-15 days,
the draft law will be discussed,” Melikyan said.

Melikyan called the development of democracy and democratic
institutions in the republic the most important part of the NKR
policy. The minister called the upcoming June elections to the
NKR National Assembly a regular test on this way. “We expect that
representatives of political forces of Armenia will attend the
elections as observers. Observers from other states will also be
invited but Armenia’s attitude to this event is very important for us”,
the head of the NKR Ministry of Foreign Affairs said.

The minister pointed out also the necessity of taking into
consideration the international situation and the development of world
processes. Melikyan said that various international organizations
with the ulterior motive observed the development of the events
around Nagornyy Karabakh and tried to affect them proceeding mainly
from good intentions, though sometimes negative influence also took
place. “But that is not the point. We must clearly realize that
we are not alone in the world, and be able to correlate our steps
with serious international interests which become apparent today in
serious changes in the world. It is both the expansion of Europe and
the idea of Greater Middle East, as well as the processes taking place
in more remote regions. If we cannot correlate the processes taking
place in our country, with the ones which have global international
implication, we can face quite serious difficulties,” Melikyan said.

Answering the questions of the participants in the hearings, Melikyan
said that the recently exaggerated idea of conducting a referendum
in Nagornyy Karabakh was regarded in the NKR as recognition of
the Nagornyy Karabakh people’s decisive voice in the issue of
its self-determination. At the same time, the minister stressed
the necessity of concrete defining the region of conducting the
referendum and Azerbaijan’s readiness to admit its results. Only if
these issues found their answers, it would be possible to talk about
the prerequisites for conducting a referendum, he said.

Answering the question on the current border between Nagornyy Karabakh
and Azerbaijan, Arman Melikyan said that the actual border of the
NKR and Azerbaijan passed along the contact line of the NKR and the
Azerbaijani armed forces.

The minister noted that the regions of Nagornyy Karabakh Shaumyan,
Shankhor , Xanlar etc, which were occupied by Azerbaijan, were actively
settled, and according to the present data, not only by refugees
from the territories which had passed under the control of Nagornyy
Karabakh in the course of the war, but also other Azerbaijanis. At
the same time, Arman Melikyan expressed his dissatisfaction with the
process of settling by the Armenians the territories controlled by
the Karabakh party. “There are definite omissions in this process”,
Melikyan said.