THE GREEN RESOLUTION: Russia votes in the UN against Azerbaijan’s stance on Nagorno-Karabakh
by Ivan Sukhov

What the Papers Say
March 17, 2008 Monday
Russia

UN General Assembly mostly ignores Azerbaijan’s resolution; On March
13, the Russian State Duma held expanded hearings on the fate of
South Ossetia and Abkhazia. On March 14, Azerbaijan proposed that
the UN General Assembly should adopt a resolution on the situation
in Nagorno-Karabakh. The resolution passed, but one hundred countries
abstained.

The precedent of recognizing Kosovo’s independence has intensified
the controversy over the self-proclaimed republics in the South
Caucasus. On March 13, the Russian State Duma held expanded hearings
on the fate of South Ossetia and Abkhazia. On March 14, Azerbaijan
proposed that the UN General Assembly should adopt a resolution on
the situation in Nagorno-Karabakh and surrounding districts.

The Duma hearings essentially argued that the right to
self-determination should triumph over the principle of territorial
integrity. In contrast, Azerbaijan’s proposed resolution prioritized
territorial integrity. But the effective outcome was the same in both
cases: the Duma vaguely promised to open representative offices in
Abkhazia and South Ossetia, and repeated its old mantra that using
force to resolve these long-standing conflicts is unacceptable; most
members of the General Assembly simply ignored Azerbaijan’s resolution,
abstaining from the vote. Officially, however, the resolution counts
as passed: 39 votes in favor, seven against.

Azerbaijan’s previous attempt to present the Nagorno-Karaback situation
for discussion in the United Nations was made in the era of the
late President Heidar Aliyev, in 2000; back then, only Armenia voted
against the resolution describing part of Azerbaijan’s territory as
under occupation. More opponents have come forward this time, with
Armenia being joined by Russia, the USA, and France – co-chairs of
the OSCE Minsk Group, which is responsible for Nagorno-Karabakh at
the international level, and also the countries where the Armenian
diaspora’s lobbying position is strongest. India, Angola, and Vanuatu
also voted against the resolution.

Azerbaijan has taken offense at everyone who voted against: the
Azeri Foreign Ministry has already promised to review relations with
Russia, France, and the OSCE. Azerbaijan views Angola’s decision
as particularly insulting, since the president of Angola studied
in then-Soviet Azerbaijan as a young man. Azerbaijan has also been
surprised by India’s stance; it had expected New Delhi’s solidarity,
due to separatism in Kashmir.

One hundred countries abstained from voting. This makes it hard
to argue with the opinion expressed by Armenian Foreign Minister
Vardan Oskanian, who described the vote as "a diplomatic fiasco for
Azerbaijan." Thirty-nine countries, 33 of them Muslim countries, voted
in favor of the resolution. This fact in itself has made observers
wary; some of them say that Azerbaijan, while formally supporting the
OSCE Minsk Group’s efforts, has effectively attempted to overturn this
cooperation format and take the problem to another international forum.

It’s worth noting that in early March, Georgia also attempted to
change the existing regulation system for one of the conflicts on
its territory: it declined to participate in Joint Control Commission
hearings in South Ossetia. In South Ossetia and Abkhazia, Russia plays
the key role in conflict regulation bodies, and Russian-Georgian
relations are tense. Russia’s role in Nagorno-Karabakh is far more
modest: the OSCE Minsk Group’s influential co-chairs are the USA and
France, which largely represent the geopolitical bearing-points of
Azerbaijan’s foreign policy. After the UN General Assembly vote,
Azeri officials said they would prefer to see France replaced by
Britain (one of the abstainers).

Azerbaijan’s comments regarding the United States have been far
more restrained.