OPENING SPEECH OF MG HAYK KOTANJIAN IN "REASSESSING SECURITY IN THE SOUTH CAUCASUS: REGIONAL CONFLICTS, STABILITY AND TRANSFORMATION" INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE

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1 4.05.09

Ladies and Gentlemen: Honorable Guests.

It’s my pleasure to welcome you in Yerevan. Let me express my gratitude
for your participation at our conference organized by Academic
Foundation of Political Sciences, Lyon Centre for International
Security and Defence Studies and Institute for National and Strategic
Studies of the Ministry of Defence of the Republic of Armenia.

The South Caucasus has gone through dramatic changes since the
last summer.

The tragic events in Georgia once more emphasized the importance of
regional and trans-regional cooperation as the only possible way to
solve the current disputes and secure durable peace and stability
in the region. Meanwhile, the required cooperation is achievable
only through multi-level contacts including the representatives of
governmental agencies and think tanks, civil society leaders and
prominent academicians not only from South Caucasus but also from
other regional powers as well as international organizations actively
involved in South Caucasian geopolitics.

I am sure; our conference will serve as an intellectual platform for
stability and security of the South Caucasus. We have 20 eminent
experts from Azerbaijan, Georgia, Russia, Unites States, France ,
Iran, Turkey, Norway and United Kingdom. Through different sessions and
discussions we can deepen our understanding of future developments in
the region. Participants from respectful countries will present their
perception regarding the current situation and possible ways ahead
toward confidence building, conflict settlement and durable peace among
the actors presented in the regional orchestra. It is my great pleasure
to express my gratitude to the Lyon Centre for International Security
and Defence Studies and personally to the Director of the centre,
Professor Jean-Paul Joubert and Program Co-Director Annie Jafalian
for their initiative to organize this conference in cooperation with
our Institute. We value our cooperation with the all participants
and we’ll continue efforts to deepen our professional relations.

The reality is threatened in our region with a possibility of
resuming a war, and no one anticipates easy solutions and all-fitting
suggestions, but as far as we are peace proponents and peacemaking
developers there is no reasonable alternative to the process of
mutual understanding through dialogue and cooperation. As we know,
resolution system of armed conflicts relies on three basic pillars
of international law: territorial integrity, self-determination of
peoples and non-use of force. Combination of all these principles
is the only possible approach to secure the stability and security
in the South Caucasus. Bellicose statements and=2 0actions have
a potential to destroy the current volatile balance and pave a way
toward a systematic humanitarian tragedy similar one we faced in last
August in Georgia. Let me once more welcome all of you and hope that
our Conference will make a contribution to the peace and security in
our region.

Thank you.