Lragir, Armenia
Nov 30 2007
VARTAN OSKANIAN’S ADDRESS TO OSCE 15TH MINISTERIAL COUNCIL
OSCE 15th Ministerial Council
November 29, 2007 Madrid, Spain
It’s already the end of the day, let me briefly address a few topics.
One related to OSCE reforms. Second, CFE; Third, a little bit about
Armenia’s elections and finally about the Nagorno Karabakh conflict.
But before all that, let me commend the Spanish chairmanship for the
very good work they’ve done during the year.
Although the organization has been evolving ever since its inception,
we have really changed in this last half decade. Some of those
changes, intended to enhance the effectiveness of the organization,
appear sometimes to burden its structures, and sometimes even disturb
the delicate balance among the various components of what we still
believe is a correct premise – that security is indivisible.
The OSCE’s three dimensions have provided each of us with something
to hang on to. Today the equilibrium among our three pillars begins
to wobble because of the centrifugal effect of so much criss-crossing
of priorities and interests. There’s an uncomfortable shift in
balance.
This is why Armenia does not think reform should be taboo nor do we
consider the reform process a wasteful exercise. The Herald Tribune
even raised these points this morning. No large, complex
organization, private or public, can maintain its relevance and
improve its performance simply by assuming that all is well. At the
OSCE, our greatest challenge is to alter the experience of some
delegations who find that the playing field is uneven. An
organization based on consensus presumably believes in a level
playing field. It is not a matter of being and feeling equal, rather
of having an equal right to defend our interests.
Because this unevenness becomes more apparent and more problematic at
the level of institutions and missions, believing in enhancing
ODIHR’s autonomy and effectiveness, we have attempted to seek in
ODIHR greater evenhandedness, transparency, non-selectivity, and
region-blindness particularly in its election-related activities.
As for OSCE missions, Armenia has already raised the issue, secure in
the very satisfactory, beneficial and cooperative performance of the
office in Yerevan. But we believe that as their numbers, mandates and
operations evolve, the whole missions system needs an adjustment to
reduce the perception of favorite tracks and sometimes
quasi-permanent dependency. The ultimate benefit of any mission will
be evident when that mission, having completed its work, makes itself
redundant. That is why we emphasize capacity building as the next
priority for the Yerevan office.
Mr. Chairman, as I reflect on the priorities of the organization as a
whole, I must address the CFE, a foundational issue and one that
plays an important role in the edifice of military strategic security
for the area. Presently it is in trouble. We are a state party and
the effective functioning of a Treaty in full implementation is
essential to our national security. Frankly, we are deeply concerned
by our neighbor Azerbaijan blatantly and unapologetically exceeding
by substantial numbers its holdings of TLEs. It is in this sense that
the reinvigoration of the CFE and its adapted successor is vital for
all state parties.
It seems our whole region is getting ready for an electoral year. In
Armenia, we concluded parliamentary elections in May and scored quite
a satisfactory rating in the eyes of the international community. My
government has every intention to maintain the momentum in the
Presidential elections coming in February. These, at a time when
Armenia is socially, economically a new country and we are seeing the
return of hope and optimism.
Finally, something on the settlement of the Nagorno Karabakh
conflict.
On the one hand, through successive meetings of Presidents and
Foreign Ministers, we have arrived at a working document that can
serve as the basis for a preliminary agreement. Today, we met with
the top diplomats of the co-chair countries whose concern is that we
preserve what we have achieved and go further.
We understand and appreciate their special attention and their
recognition of the progress made in this process.
That document addresses the core issue – the security of the people
of Nagorno Karabakh, through self-determination – as well as the
issues of refugees and territories that came about as a result of
that self-determination struggle.
Unfortunately, outside of the negotiation process, there is another,
contradictory and disheartening reality. First, there are
militaristic calls ringing from the highest levels of Azerbaijan’s
leadership; second, Baku’s systematic, organized hate propaganda has
reached frightening levels within Azerbaijan. Third, Azerbaijan’s
willful obstruction of international envoys entrusted with monitoring
the conflict and the region is threatening to upset the fine balance
that we have sustained, and fourth, their active and aggressive
search for alternative international forums in which to present their
case, rebuffs their responsibility to compromise.
As hopeful as we are that a negotiated settlement is possible, this
hostile atmosphere concerns us. Armenians believe there will be no
new wars in our region. I know this because we won’t start it, and
they know they can’t win it. There is no military solution for this
conflict. The only solution is one based on compromise, and in that
sense, this document denies each side their maximalist desires and
focuses instead on a sensible, respectable, acceptable solution that
can be explained to ordinary people.
And will make it possible for ordinary people to reconnect over time
and across political boundaries in a space split by war and hatred.
For this to happen, the extraordinary people, those endowed with the
power to lead must demonstrate vision and instill trust, re-create a
Caucasus space and contibute to the region’s stability and
prosperity.
In this context and as members of this broad and inclusive European
organization, we look enviously at the countries of Europe, all of
whom, even those who were shaken to the core by the transformation of
the world order, have found ways to place problems onto an agenda,
without allowing those problems to abort the agenda. Perhaps we in
the Caucasus will be next in adopting such European approaches to
regional problems.
Mr. Chairman, as we prepare to welcome Finland, and hopefully soon
after that Kazakhstan, perhaps I can even say the unmentionable: it’s
never been more true than today that this organization’s annual
meetings have never been just formal get-togethers. It is at times
like this, when there are 6 or 7 daily headlines about the real
tensions in the OSCE space, that we can be thankful that we do have
this forum and we can commit to continuing to work to adapt it to our
ever-increasing demands.