APA, Azerbaijan
Jan 30 2009

Tense debates on Nagorno Karabakh take place in University of
Michigan, USA

[ 31 Jan 2009 12:45 ]
Zaur Hasanov. Washington `APA. A one-day workshop `After Kosovo:
Whither Karabakh?’ was organized by the Armenian Studies Program,
University of Michigan, and head of the program Gerard Libaridian on
January 30, APA US bureau reports.

Russian Armenian expert Antranik Migranyan said Russia had no
intentions, at first, to recognize Abkhazia and South Ossetia. `The
Mikhail Saakashvili’s keen messages followed by the August events
forced Russia to take radical measures’. He said the US administration
also contributed to the developments. Migranyan said the US foreign
policy over the past 15 years, military operations in Yugoslavia,
Afghanistan and Iraq shook the international law system and
consequently Russia didn’t consider the use of arms as a fault.
Touching upon the Kosovo’s independence, Migranyan said it was not
real that the Western diplomats have not seen Kosovo as a precedent
for other conflicts. `If you compare the Kosovo conflict with the
relations between Tbilisi and Sukhumi, Tbilisi and Tskhinvali, Baku
and Stepanakert (Khankendi), you can not find a difference’, said
Migranyan.

The expert said the borders were delimited artificially in the period
of USSR and were contradictory to the will of peoples and therefore
Nagorno Karabakh had a right of self-determination.

Elin Suleymanov, Consul General of Azerbaijan in Los Angeles said
Migranyan’s opinion was mistaken. `Kosovo is not a precedent for the
conflicts in our region, particularly for the Nagorno Karabakh
conflict. First, the decision on the Kosovo’s future was made by the
West on the one hand, but USA, Russia and some of the European leading
countries have no decisive votes in the Armenian-Azerbaijan Nagorno
Karabakh conflict.

Second, in the Kosovo conflict, neighboring Albania did not occupy
Kosovo and Albanian current political leaders are not natives of
Kosovo. However Armenia was involved in the Nagorno Karabakh conflict
in all forms and the international community recognizes Armenia as a
part of the conflict.

Third, Kosovo was ruled by the international organizations for a long
time after the NATO operations in the region and it gave legitimacy to
Kosovo.

Fourth, war crimes against the local residents in Kosovo were
committed by Belgrade, but in Nagorno Karabakh the war crimes were
committed by neighboring Armenia. For example, Armenians committed
crime against humanity in Khojali’.

Elin Suleymanov said it was not correct to base on the former Soviet
law about self-determination right giving to the regions, because
Nagorno Karabakh and other separatist regimes didn’t address the
relevant organizations to give them independence according to that
law.

The Consul General said Azerbaijani people wished to live in peace
with Armenians and Azerbaijan’s Armenian citizens could also use the
economic opportunities of the country, but absolute criterion for this
is the solution to the conflict within the territorial integrity of
Azerbaijan.