U.S. should understand, Karabakh is successor state to Soviet Union,
and no different from Armenia or Russia
22.08.2009 17:01 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The outgoing U.S. envoy for Karabakh, OSCE MG
co-chair Matt Bryza, who was quite a bit criticized in Armenia, as
biased in favor of Azerbaijan and Turkey, is only reflecting the
policy of the State Department, Frank Pallone Jr., the New Jersey
Democrat, a founding co-chair of the Congressional Caucus on Armenian
Issues, said. `The State Department takes a position that
Nagorno-Karabakh doesn’t have the status of a state and they have
traditionally highlighted territorial integrity over
self-determination,’ Congressman said.
`But they are wrong in this case because they do not realize that
Nagorno-Karabakh has every right to be an independent nation. So, what
you really need to do is to have the State Department change its
position.
They have to realize that according to the Soviet legal framework,
Nagorno-Karabakh had self-government and certain rights, including
holding a referendum and becoming an independent country, which is
what had happened.
So it’s not simply an issue of territorial integrity versus
self-determination. Nagorno-Karabakh is a successor state to the
Soviet Union, and no different from Armenia or Russia in that
respect,` Frank Pallone said in an interview to Armenian reporter.
According to him, since Nagorno-Karabakh is a small area with a
relatively small population, it is difficult for the State Department,
and any administration to focus on it.
Answering the question about concessions in the settlement of
Nagoro-Karabakh problem, the Congressman said: `The argument that
should be made is that this a powder keg. In other words if you do not
work to solve this situation and come up with a compromise, there is a
potential for another major war in the Caucasus that would have major
implications for several neighboring countries, Turkey and Russia
especially. And that this strategic concern must be appreciated.
The war between Russia and Georgia [in August 2008] is a recent
example of the volatility in the Caucasus region.