SELF-DETERMINATION SET DOWN IN OSCE RESOLUTION

Lragir.am
10 July 06

Vahan Hovanisyan, Deputy Speaker of Armenia, appreciated the work
of the Armenian delegation in the session of the OSCE Parliamentary
Assembly in Brussels on July 3-8, reports the news agency ARKA. In
a news conference on July 10 Vahan Hovanisyan announced that the
Armenian delegation managed to have all the pro-Armenian initiatives
adopted and anti-Armenian initiatives rejected.

Vahan Hovanisyan particularly mentioned that self-determination was
included in the OSCE documents for the first time, relying on the
referendum on independence in Montenegro.

"The document adopted by the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly commended the
civilized and friendly attitude of Serbia towards the referendum on the
independence of Montenegro, it did not respond with tanks, air raids,
and armed force. We assumed it as an excellent model of indivisibility
of borders and balance of rights for self-determination," said Vahan
Hovanisyan.

According to him, this document was disapproved by the delegations of
Georgia and Azerbaijan. Vahan Hovanisyan said the outcome of voting
shows that the principle of self-determination is becoming more and
more dominant.

The head of the Armenian delegation announced that in Brussels
the Armenian delegation also managed to neutralize the proposal
of the Georgian and Azerbaijani delegations on resolving conflicts
by returning disputable areas to the countries they want to become
independent. Vahan Hovanisyan says only three countries voted for
these proposal, the authors and Turkey.

Moreover, one of the resolutions, according to Vahan Hovanisyan,
was rejected thanks to the Russian delegation. "Hence, the future
status of Kosovo may become a precedent, a new key to the resolution
of Karabakh, as well as other conflicts," says Vahan Hovanisyan.

"The second resolution was crushed by the Spanish delegation, stating
that eithnic minorities have the right to dispute over territorial
integrity and secession from a state if it does not protect the rights
of its ethnic minorities," announced Vahan Hovanisyan. He also said
that the Armenian delegation prevented the resolution which defines
Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan as a perfect model of regional cooperation.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress