Armenian minister: Karabakh settlement should be based on national self-determination right

YEREVAN, January 18. /ARKA/. Karabakh settlement should be based on the national self-determination right, Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandyan said on Sunday in an interview with Liberty radio station.

He said that it had been confirmed at the OSCE ministerial meeting in Athens that Karabakh settlement should be based on the national self-determination right.

Nalbandyan said that 56 OSCE member countries have confirmed that for the first time, and Azerbaijan has signed the statement containing the principle that had never been considered before that.

Azerbaijan has always ignored this principle and was strongly opposed to its appearance in any document, while “this time it happened, and not only in 56 OSCE countries’ statement, but also in that of the ministers of five countries – the United States, Russia, France, Armenia and Azerbaijan”.

Nalbandyan stressed that territorial integrity is absolutely not connected with Karabakh’s self-determination.

In his opinion, the self-determination process began yet in soviet epoch, when Azerbaijan was not an independent country.

In 1999 European Parliament stated that Azerbaijan, using its self-determination right, had declared its independence, just like Karabakh, Nalbandyan said.

He said that the self-determination is one of the most important principles of the international law.

“Otherwise we wouldn’t have 192 UN member countries, but have only 51, as it was when the United Nations was established,” he said adding that this very principle enlarged the number of member countries.

The minister also said that not a single statement containing only territorial integrity principle without self-determination was made by OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs in the recent period of time.

“ Does it correspond with what Azerbaijan insists on? Absolutely no.”

Speaking about various comments on Karabakh settlement, the minister advised everybody not to listen what Azerbaijani side speaks, but instead to pay attention to the Minsk Group mediators’ statements.

Nalbandyan said that Azerbaijani leadership is trying to predetermine the results of the talks, i.e. Karabakh’s self-determination and status.

However, Karabakhi people, and nobody else, will decide the status.

“OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs say the same in their Madrid principles”, the Armenian minister said in his interview. “And it means that contrary to Baku’s statements, the settlement of Karabakh conflict is in hands of Karabakhi people.”

Karabakh conflict broke out in 1988 when Karabakh, mainly populated by Armenians, declared its independence from Azerbaijan.

On December 10, 1991, a few days after the collapse of the Soviet Union, a referendum was held in Nagorno-Karabakh, and the majority of the population (99.89%) voted for secession from Azerbaijan.

Afterwards, large-scale military operations began. As a result, Azerbaijan lost control over Nagorno-Karabakh and the seven regions adjacent to it.

On May 12, 1994 Bishkek cease-fire agreement, put an end to the military operations.

Since 1992, talks brokered by OSCE Minsk Group are being held over peaceful settlement of the conflict. The group is co-chaired by USA, Russia and France.-0---