news.am, Armenia
Dec 5 2009
Tigran Lazarian: Azerbaijan interprets self-determination selectively
16:13 / 12/04/2009Тhe statement made at the 17th conference of the
OSCE Foreign Ministers’ Council in Athens is beneficial due to the
fact that it urges the sides to maintain positive dynamics in the
negotiations, the analyst Tigran Lazarian told NEWS.am, commenting on
a joint statement by the Foreign Ministers of the OSCE Minsk Group,
Armenia and Azerbaijan.
The expert also pointed out that both the Armenian side and the
international community consider the Nagorno-Karabakh peace process
and Armenian-Turkish reconciliation independent processes. The Turkish
side is involved in the Armenian-Turkish negotiations on this basis.
However, if any positive developments in the Nagorno-Karabakh peace
process are considered essential for the ratification of the
Armenian-Turkish protocols, the statement ensures the expected
progress. In any case, irrespective of the Armenian side’s will, the
Turkish Parliament will take the document into account in ratifying
the protocols, Lazarian said.
Of interest is also the fact that the statement confirms a number of
principles ` non-use of force, no menace of force, territorial
integrity and nations’ rights to self-determination ` as fundamental
principles of settling conflicts under international law. `No doubt,
the confirmed right to self-determination is of paramount importance.
Of course, Azerbaijan interprets the principle `selectively’ `
self-determination in the context of territorial integrity. However,
any person knowing about the right to self-determination is well aware
that the principle is widely applied, and the application of the
panhuman standard may have any outcome,’ Lazarian said.
No wonder, then, that the statement accentuates the territorial
integrity principle. `It would be surprising it the principle was not
mentioned at all. Of greater interest will be Azerbaijan’s violation
of the principle of no menace of force and the signatories’ reaction
to it,’ Lazarian said.