NAGORNO-KARABAKH JOINS TRANSDNIESTER, ABKHAZIA AND S.OSSETIA IN CALL FOR PEACE
Tiraspol Times & Weekly Review, Moldova
June 17 2007
Four unrecognized countries have taken a united stand on settling
conflicts without the use of violence. Transdniester, Abkhazia,
South Ossetia and Nagorno-Karabakh signed a joint appeal for peaceful
settlement on conflicts involving their territories. An earlier appeal
to the United Nations did not include Nagorno-Karabakh.
The Nagorno-Karabakh Republic (NKR) joined PMR and two
other unrecognized states in a call for non-violent conflict
resolutionTIRASPOL (Tiraspol Times) – The foreign ministries of
four unrecognized countries – the Transdniester Republic, Abkhazia,
South Ossetia and Nagorno-Karabakh – signed the a joint declaration
on principles for peaceful and just settlement of their territorial
conflicts with Moldova, Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan, respectively.
Its text was circulated on Sunday by the Foreign Ministry of
Transdniester (officially Pridnestrovskaia Moldavskaia Respublica, or
PMR, but also known under names such as Transnistria or Trans-Dnestr).
Key to the document is the appeal that conflicts should be settled
only by peaceful political means on the basis of respect for the
views of all the sides of a conflict, taking into account the right
of peoples to self-determination.
It condemns the use of any forms of pressure at negotiations, be
it open violence – such as military action – or covert violence,
including dis-information wars, economic blockades and sanctions,
diplomatic isolation and other measures which result in unfair pressure
on the weaker side of the negotiations.
Message to Moldova: Respect int’l law In addition to their appeal
for non-violence and a democratic status settlement, the four
foreign ministers agreed to set up international guarantee systems
of a post-conflict settlement. Such international involvement would
include outside guarantees of the observance of international law
and economic guarantees, as well as guarantees of their peoples’
security and observance of human rights by all sides to the conflicts.
The document concludes by expressing the conviction that "respect
of these principles by all subjects of the international community,
including Azerbaijan, Georgia and Moldova, will create adequate
prerequisites for the earliest and just settlement of conflicts
and will be a common contribution to strengthening of international
stability and protection of human rights".
Following the signing of the document, Transdniester Foreign Minister
Valeri Litskai said that eventual independence of Kosovo would create
a precedent for his own country, taking into account the maturity of
Transdniester’s statehood and its government institutions.
" – We are 17 years old, while Kosovo is only seven. Kosovars are a
long way from international democratic standards so far," said PMR’s
Valeri Litskai.
The other three signatories to the document are also older than
Kosovo, being each 15 or 16 years old. Of the four, Pridnestrovie
(Transdniester) was the first to declare inpendence: It did so in
1990, one year before the Republic of Moldova became an independent
country. Although Transdniester was legally a part of the former
Moldavian SSR within the Soviet Union, Transdniester has never legally
been a part of the new Republic of Moldova following the fall of the
Soviet Union.
Newcomer: Nagorno-Karabakh The signature of Nagorno-Karabakh on the
declaration is a departure from recent policy.
Nagorno-Karabakh differs from other "frozen conflicts" in the ex-Soviet
Union in that it has repeatedly received funding from the United
States Congress. Throughout the 1990s, NKR’s independence leaders
collaborated with other unrecognized countries but at the advice of
American consultants, they withdrew their close ties.
Washington felt that it was not beneficial for NKR to be lumped with
Abkhazia and Pridnestrovie (Transdniester), and the "handlers" held
out the promise of quick international independence recognition if
Nagorno-Karabakh would seek its own way.
No such promise materialized, and Nagorno-Karabakh is now again
inching closer to the other unrecognized countries in the region.
Discussions are underway for Nagorno-Karabakh to join the Community for
Democracy and Human Rights, an international governmental organization
founded by the three other unrecognized countries on the post-Soviet
space. NKR currently participates with observer sates, but the
Secretary-General of the group’s Interparliamentary Assembly says
that this is likely to change.
" – The full membership of the Parliament of Nagorno Karabakh in
the Assembly as well as the membership of other partially recognized
states is under discussion," said Grigory Marakutsa, an ethnic Moldovan
from Pridnestrovie (Transdniester) who was formerly Speaker of the
PMR Parliament. (With information from Itar-Tass)
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
