HULIQ, SC
July 11 2009

White House Releases Details of Armenia Azerbaijan Settlement

.In a recent G8 meeting in Italy the presidents of USA, France and
Russia called for a settlement of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict and
yesterday the White House released the basic principles according to
which the conflict may be settled if the presidents of Armenia and
Azerbaijan agree in an upcoming meeting on July 17 in Moscow.

The principles look fair for Armenia and Azerbaijan. However, one
thing is missing. While the principles call for a "legally binding
expression of will" to determine the final legal status of the Nagorno
Karabakh Republic, the question of who’s will is very important here.

The negotiators of Armenia have to make sure that the details of where
and how the expression of will is conducted are clearly written in the
legally binding document. No body wants to be surprised if one day
Azerbaijan says that the "expression of will" has to be conducted
throughout Azerbaijan, while everyone is assuming that the expression
of will or a referendum is to be conducted in the territory of Nagorno
Karabakh Republic. This will prevent a future possible conflict and
help the people of the three countries to focus on peace building and
advancing the prosperity of the region.

The document should clearly say that the "expression of will" is to be
conducted only within the boundaries of Nagorno Karabakh’s territory
and not throughout Azerbaijan. I write these lines because in the past
Azerbaijan has signaled that the referendum can be conducted in the
entire Azerbaijan and the will of Azerbaijan’s population must be
taken into consideration.

Azerbaijan should realistically come to the understanding that it can
never bring Nagorno Karabakh back to under it’s rule or it’s
territorial integrity. Caucasian countries should wake up to a new
reality of a new republic in the region as the European countries did
with Kosovo. And this approach brought peace in the Balkans helping
everyone. The recognition of the Independence of Nagorno Karabakh
Republic is inevitable.

The basic principles of Nagorno Karabakh resolution released by the
White House.

The Basic Principles reflect a reasonable compromise based on the
Helsinki Final Act principles of Non-Use of Force, Territorial
Integrity, and the Equal Rights and Self-Determination of Peoples.

The Basic Principles among other things call for:

¢return of the territories surrounding Nagorno-Karabakh to
Azerbaijani control
¢an interim status for Nagorno-Karabakh providing guarantees for
security and self-governance,
¢a corridor linking Armenia to Nagorno-Karabakh;
¢future determination of the final legal status of Nagorno-Karabakh
through a legally binding expression of will;
¢the right of all internally displaced persons and refugees to
return to their former places of residence; and
¢international security guarantees that would include a
peacekeeping operation.
The endorsement of these Basic Principles by Armenia and Azerbaijan
will allow the drafting of a comprehensive settlement to ensure a
future of peace, stability, and prosperity for Armenia and Azerbaijan
and the broader region.

Again, these as the basic principles, but the main task of the
negotiators and the mediators is to delineate in details the exact
nature of the "expression of will" in terms of location and time if
the final peace between Armenia and Azerbaijan is to be
achieved. Otherwise, this can become another frozen conflict, which
the latest Georgian events showed that frozen conflicts do not equal
to peace.

Written by Armen Hareyan

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From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress