ENTIRE DIPLOMATIC WORK WENT DOWN THE DRAIN: ZURABYAN
Tert.am
04.12.09
It’s the first time that Armenia officially accepted the tenet that
the issue of Nagorno-Karabakh must be settled on the basis of the
entirety of Azerbaijani territory, stated Armenian National Congress
(ANC) coordinator Levon Zurabyan, commenting on the OSCE ministerial
statement related to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
Specifically, Zurabyan noted that after the collapse of the Soviet
Union, choosing a diplomatic system, in which the settlement of
the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict would be secured on the right of
self-determination, was very important. Becoming an OSCE member and
receiving the right to veto, Armenia became able to say that it would
use that right in the case if the principle of entirety of Azerbaijan’s
territory is to be tied with the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh
conflict, noted the ANC coordinator.
With the December 1 decision, in Zurabyan’s opinion, this entire
diplomatic work went down the drain. "Now they are trying to fool us
and create the impression that also included in the official documents
is the right of nations’ self-determination."
The ANC coordinator, however, considers the fore-mentioned
argument ridiculous, since, in his opinion, simultaneously taking
advantage of the principles of territorial entirety and the
right of self-determination means that "the right of nations to
self-determination must be carried out within the frames of the
principles of territorial entirety."
Responding to the issue of first president of Armenia, current ANC
leader Levon Ter-Petrossian’s 1992 interview where Ter-Petrossian was
discussing the Nagorno-Karabakh issue as part of Azerbaijan, Zurabyan
noted that diplomatic documents and positions are important for him.
"All of Ter-Petrossian’s statements during that time were directed
toward the information and political securing of military operations."