Making unilateral decisions over the recognition of Jerusalem as the Israeli capital is wrong, as it is inappropriate to make one-sided decisions on the Nagorno-Karabakh settlement process, an Armenian expert said on Friday.
Speaking to Panorama.am, Tevan Poghosyan, who also heads the International Center for Human Development NGO, stated such issues need to be negotiated in a comprehensive manner, with an agreement reached between all the sides, as he commented on the newly adopted resolution by the United Nations General Assembly on the status of Jerusalem.
The UN General Assembly on Thursday adopted a resolution that will make US President Donald Trump's decision to recognize Jerusalem as the Israeli capital have no legal effect. The draft resolution tabled by Turkey and Yemen was adopted 128-9 with 35 abstentions. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan expressed satisfaction over the decision.
Touching upon the fact Armenia voted for the mentioned resolution, the expert highlighted by backing the measure the country did not voice its support to Turkey, but rather expressed disagreement with the process of adopting a one-sided decision to be imposed later to the entire world.
“Armenia’s vote should be viewed more globally. Dealing with the Artsakh conflict, we have to condition any voting with that issue, taking into the effects it can leave on ourselves. A similar approach was adopted when voting on the issue of Ukraine. The thing refered to an initiative where it was impossible to oppose the right to self-determination and to put the Ukrainian-Armenian community at risk,” Tevan Poghosyan said.
The expert noted that the consequences of Armenia's voting in the UN will largely depend on how our country will support its vote to the American and Israeli sides. Moreover, Armenia should immediately explain this step, instead of waiting for various comments to release.
“If we do not delay, there will be no consequences, but if we defer we will be reminded of our vote, as we are reminded of a number of previous votes. If any pressure is exerted on Armenia our vote will certainly be recalled at that time,” he added.
Summing up, Mr. Poghosyan stated the UN resolution will no way affect the policies pursued by the US and Israel, as evidenced by a series of UN-adopted decisions against Israel, which however did not hinder that country to move forward.
As far as the US is concerned, the country, according to the expert, will run a policy of self-interest towards those 128 countries, which backed the UN General Assembly’s resolution.