VARTAN OSKANIAN: EVERY CONFLICT IS UNIQUE IN ITS NATURE

armradio.am
04.12.2007 16:16

Can Kosovo become a precedent for the settlement of the Karabakh
conflict?

In response to the question of the Russian Kommersant, RA Foreign
Minister Vartan Oskanian said:

"Precedents have certain influence in international relations
irrespective of our will. Their reoccurrence becomes the basis of
international law as time passes. But irrespective of that we do not
follow the precedents in case of Nagorno Karabakh.

Our approach has been and remains as follows: all conflicts are unique
in their nature, and the resolution of each of them can be individual,
especially considering that the talks on Nagorno Karabakh are held
in the framework of the principle of self-determination. It is the
right of people of Karabakh, and it is impossible to turn back the
clock of history irrespective of the solutions to other conflicts.

If the result of the Kosovo issue is not a precedent, then the opposite
logic is not understandable to us, either. To put it otherwise, if the
international community wants to make the people of Nagorno Karabakh
understand that the independence of Kosovo does not envisage automatic
independence of Karabakh, it must simultaneously explain to Azerbaijan
the opportunity of realization of the right for self-determination
of nations by Nagorno Karabakh. That is to say, every conflict must
have its individual solution deriving from its peculiarities and the
logic of negotiations."