NAGORNO KARABAKH MEDIATORS SAY THEY RECOGNIZE DEMOCRACY IN NKR
Armen Hareyan
HULIQ.com
May 25 2010
SC
OSCE Minsk Group, which consists of the representatives of The
United States, France and Russia said they “understand the need”
for holding parliamentary elections in Nagorno Karabakh Republic as a
way of providing good governance for Karabakh people. While Armenia
has strongly supported the democratic elections in NKR, Azerbaijan
has called it illegal.
The European Union has also called it illegal as Nagorno Karabakh’s
Republic is not recognized state and has broken away from Azerbaijan
22 years ago voting for independence. However, Catherine Ashton, High
Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security
Policy, reiterated EU’s “firm support to the OSCE Minsk-Group and the
work of the three Co-chairs and their efforts towards a settlement
of the conflict.” She also said in a statement that EU is ready to
further support to this end.
Now let’s see what the Minsk-Group has said about yesterday’s
parliamentary elections in Nagorno Karabakh. “Although the Co-Chairs
understand the need for the de facto authorities in NK to try to
organize democratically the public life of their population with
such a procedure, they underscore again that Nagorno-Karabakh is not
recognized as an independent and sovereign state by any of their three
countries, nor by any other country, including Armenia,” co-chairs
said in a statement published on OSCE’s website.
Mediators go little further saying this parliamentary election in
Nagorno Karabakh cannot pre-empt the solution to the conflict. While
this is understood, let’s see what exactly the co-charis say.
First, the countries that mediate the Nagorno Karabakh conflict
between Azerbaijan and Armenia do acknowledge the “de facto
authorities” of the republic. This naturally makes the authorities
as a conflict party, something that Azerbaijan denies and prefers
to negotiate only with Armenia. Second, is the important that Minsk
group co-chairs “understand the need” for organizing the public life
of the population. The third is very important: co-chairs understand
the need to organize the public life “democratically.”
No serious violation has been registered or report in Nagorno Karabakh
vote. While the negotiations between Azerbaijan and Armenia continue,
Nagorno Karabakh made another big step toward proving that it is able
to self-govern itself in a very democratic way providing freedom for
its population.
The interest is growing to the ability of Nagorno Karabakh to function
as an independent democratic state. If this state is indeed making
such great headway in organizing its public life in a democratic way,
it is really good for the entire region. While Nagorno Karabakh is not
recognized country, it is a democratic state and it is in Europe’s,
Russia’s and United States’ interest to support and strengthen this
democracy.
There were more than 100 international observers monitoring the vote.
The statement issued by the Russian observing mission read that
the Nagorno Karabakh election was “legitimate, open, democratic,
transparent, fully responsible to the Electoral Code of NKR and all
the highest international standards for democratic elections.” It
further stresses that the parliamentary elections were held in an
atmosphere of free political competition.
From: A. Papazian