If desired, protocols can be manipulated; it’s what Turkey and
Azerbaijan are trying to do

Azerbaijan will never be allowed to regulate the Karabakh conflict at
its discretion, nor will Turkey be allowed any interference in the
none-of-its-business affairs.
04.12.2009 GMT+04:00

It has already become a tradition: every year the process of Karabakh
conflict settlement is completed in the same way – at the annual
summit, the OSCE Ministerial Council issues a statement which almost
repeats the previous one with the mandatory confirmation of the
necessity to continue the process of finding a peaceful solution based
on Madrid principles. However, this year the usual course of
negotiations was somehow disturbed by the signing of the
Armenian-Turkish Protocols.

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Nevertheless, the Protocols can hardly seriously
affect the resolution of the Karabakh conflict, which, as once again
stressed by Foreign Ministers of the co-chair countries, should be
based on the provisions of the Helsinki Final Act of 1975, which
clearly states all the three principles of conflict regulation: the
principle of Non-Use of Force or Threat of Force, Territorial
Integrity, and the Self-Determination of Peoples. On the other hand,
if desired, the protocols can be manipulated and it’s exactly what
Turkey and Azerbaijan are trying to do, somehow forgetting that the
world powers unequivocally oppose to drawing such parallels.

Each of the sides interprets these principles in its own way. The
principles `all are of primary significance, and, consequently, they
will be equally and unreservedly applied in the interpretation of each
of them, taking into account the others’. But, for some reason, this
has been forgotten about for 15 years and disputes have been stirred
up about which of the principles is more important…

`The participating States will respect each other’s sovereign equality
and individuality, as well as all the rights inherent in and
encompassed by its sovereignty, including in particular the right of
every State to juridical equality, to territorial integrity, to
freedom and political independence. Within the framework of
international law, all the participating States have equal rights and
duties. Their frontiers can be changed, in accordance with
international law, by peaceful means and by agreement.’ Unfortunately,
Azerbaijan is guided by this principle only, having neither historical
nor legal basis to do so. But presently it is useless to prove
anything to Baku, and therefore we will not even try. We’ll confine
ourselves only to giving the other two principles which are equally
important in regulating a conflict, and about which Ilham Aliyev
unfortunately `forgets’.

`The participating States will refrain in their mutual relations, as
well as in their
international relations in general, from the threat or use of force
against the territorial integrity or political independence of any
State, or in any other manner inconsistent with the Purposes of the
United Nations and with the present Declaration. No consideration may
be invoked to serve to warrant resort to the threat or use of force in
contravention of this principle.

Accordingly, the participating States will refrain from any acts
constituting a threat of force or direct or indirect use of force
against another participating State. No such threat or use of force
will be employed as a means of settling disputes, or questions likely
to give rise to disputes, between them. The participating States
regard as inviolable all one another’s frontiers, as well as the
frontiers of all states in Europe and therefore they will refrain now
and in the future from assaulting these frontiers. Accordingly, they
will also refrain from any demand for, or act of, seizure and
usurpation of part or all of the territory of any participating
State.’

Not once we’ve mentioned that the bellicose statements of President
Aliyev and his entourage will eventually lead to the situation when he
will not be taken seriously. Moreover, Azerbaijan as a minimum faces
sanctions as a country that does not meet its obligations to the
Council of Europe. At most, it will be excluded from the CE. And
though it will hardly come to the latter, paraphrasing President Ilham
Aliyev we can say that `The patience of European officials is not
endless’.

And finally `The participating States will respect the equal rights of
peoples and their right to self-determination, acting at all times in
conformity with the purposes and principles of the Charter of the
United Nations and with the relevant norms of international law,
including those relating to territorial integrity of States. By virtue
of the principle of equal rights and self-determination of peoples,
all peoples always have the right, in full freedom, to determine, when
and as they wish, their internal and external political status,
without external interference, and to pursue as they wish their
political, economic, social and cultural development. The
participating States reaffirm the universal significance of respect
for and effective exercise of equal rights and self-determination of
peoples for the development of friendly relations among themselves as
among all States; they also recall the importance of the elimination
of any form of violation of this principle.’

Such a long campaign against illiteracy was necessary to discourage
any encroachment on the right of the NKR people to self-determination,
as well as to warn the Baku officials that the talks about `Armenia
being frightened of the statements of President Aliyev’ are at least
ridiculous. Baku should also keep in mind that the zombiing of one’s
own people always ends miserably both for the leadership and for the
people themselves. We’ve talked of this several times, but sometimes
it is useful to repeat oneself…

It is from this point of view that the statement of the OSCE made in
Athens should be considered: Azerbaijan will not be allowed to
regulate the Karabakh conflict at its discretion, nor will Turkey be
allowed any interference in the none-of-its-business affairs.

Karine Ter-Sahakyan