ARF READY TO MAKE EFFORTS SO THAT NEIGHBORING PEOPLES OF SOUTH CAUCASUS WILL HAVE OPPORTUNITY TO LIVE IN PEACE
Noyan Tapan
Au g 15, 2008
YEREVAN, AUGUST 15, NOYAN TAPAN. The ARF Bureau on August 15 issued a
statement, presenting it position in connection with the last week’s
developments in the Georgian-South Ossetian conflict.
The statement reads:
"The last week’s developments in the South Caucasus, the actual
war with its tragic consequences, the international tension and the
possible developments reveal new realities which are directly related
to the prospects of our region and cannot but worry Armenia and the
Armenians. What happened in our immediate neighborhood is creating new
challenges both in political and economic sense. The first reaction
is, of course, a pain for thousands of deaths and ruined fates of
all the sides.
Today’s supertask is to rule out such a situation in future. The 1990s’
stage of solving interethnic issues by force is over, and the recent
events showed once again the tragic nature and lack of prospects of
such a mode of action.
On the one side we should realize that Georgia is our immediate
neighbor and its stability and natural development are of great
importance to us, while Russia is Armenia’s strategic partner and
plays a role in Caucasus, on the other hand it is obvious that the
region will not benefit from the straining of EU-Russia-U.S. relations.
Despite assurances of Armenian officials that there are no problems
in the issue of commodity transportation, we are concerned and we
expect friendly Georgia not to create any obstacles in this difficult
situation.
For us, the situation is extremely important from the viewpoint
of three aspects. The first one is the problem of strengthening the
Artsakh people’s right to be in control of its destiny of its own free
will. The recent events clearly showed that Azerbaijan’s ambitions
to solve the problem by brute force are unpromising and may cause
more unpredicatble shocks in the region. Artsakh cannot be part of
Azerbaijan. We must protect our national and state interests in a
most definite and comprehensive way at negotiations on the conflict
settlement and we must demand that the sides should first of all sign
a legal document excluding the use of force.
The second aspect is the problem of autonomy and protection of
the rights of Georgia’s Armenians, especially Javakh, as an ethnic
minority. Here we cannot be indifferent and we want to believe that
Georgia will adhere to the principles of international law in this
issue.
The next aspect is perception of the necessity of the maximum unity
in the issues of the country’s security and the fundamental internal
state and national problems. This is a matter of responsibility before
the people and history.
We hope that after fierce confrontation both the conflict sides and
the international community will find ways to calm the region and
settle the existing problems in a civilized manner. Armenia can and
must join these efforts.
The ARF Dashnaktsutyun is confident and ready to make efforts so that
foundations of cooperation and development will finally be created in
the South Caucasus and the neighboring people will have an opportunity
to live in peace."
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
