In the framework of symposium in Berlin dedicated to the 25th anniversary of German-Azerbaijani diplomatic relations, professor of International Law at the Ruhr-University Bochum Hans-Joachim Heintze commented on the principles of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict settlement.
"It's wrong to say that people living in Nagorno-Karabakh have any right to self-determination. It's absurd, because this right extends to a nation, and 100-150 thousand people living in Karabakh are not a separate nation," he said. Heintze believes that it's also "incorrect to talk about the existence of contradictions between the right of peoples and nations to self-determination and the principle of territorial integrity." Latest events in Spain are a great example.
"Of course, Western societies are far from ideal, but thanks to their democratic structures they can offer other models of settlement of such conflicts. What can help to resolve the Catalan issue? Improved autonomy, under which both central government and residents of the region would be satisfied," he noted.
At the same time, Hans-Joachim Heintze criticized the West for helping to violate the principle of legal state through its passive position on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. "A decision must be made, and this decision can't be postponed for 20, 30 or 50 years. We must resolve this conflict as quickly as possible, since everyone recognizes that it can escalate at any moment. The international community should not accept this state of affairs, and the West should make more efforts to resolve this problem," he concluded.