“We follow the Kosovo self-determination process very closely,” Armenian FM Vartan Oskanian stated at the 61st session of the UN GA, reports the Press Office of the MFA of Armenia. “We ourselves strongly support the process of self-determination for the population of Nagorno Karabakh. Yet, we do not draw parallels between these two or any other conflicts. We believe that conflicts are all different and each must be decided on its own merits. While we do not look at the outcome of Kosovo as a precedent, on the other hand, a Kosovo decision cannot and should not result in the creation of obstacles to self-determination for others in order to pre-empt the accusation of precedence. Such a reverse reaction – to prevent or pre-empt others from achieving well-earned self-determination – is unacceptable,” the Minister said. In his words, efforts to do just that – by elevating territorial integrity above all other principles – are already underway, especially in the chamber, where the session took place. “But this contradicts the lessons of history. There is a reason that the Helsinki Final Act enshrines self-determination as an equal principle. In international relations, just as in human relations, there are no absolute rights. There are also responsibilities. A state must earn the right to lead and govern. States have the responsibility to protect their citizens. A people choose the government, which represents them,” Oskanian said.
“The people of Nagorno Karabakh chose long ago not to be represented by the government of Azerbaijan. They were the victims of state violence, they defended themselves, and succeeded against great odds, only to hear the state cry foul and claim sovereignty and territorial integrity. But the government of Azerbaijan has lost the moral right to even suggest providing for their security and their future, let alone to talk of custody of the people of Nagorno Karabakh. Azerbaijan did not behave responsibly or morally with the people of Nagorno Karabakh, who it considered to be its own citizens. They sanctioned massacres in urban areas, far from Nagorno Karabakh; they bombed and displaced more than 300,000 Armenians; they unleashed the military; and after they lost the war and accepted a cease-fire, they proceeded to destroy all traces of Armenians on their territories. In the most cynical expression of such irresponsibility, this last December, a decade after the fighting had stopped, they completed the final destruction and removal of thousands of massive hand-sculpted cross-stones – medieval Armenian tombstones elaborately carved and decorated. Such destruction, in an area with no Armenians, at a distance from Nagorno Karabakh and any conflict areas, is a callous demonstration that Azerbaijan’s attitude toward tolerance, human values, cultural treasures, cooperation or even peace, has not changed,” V. Oskanian underscored.
