Artsakh president speaks about the right of people to self-determination
YEREVAN, December 16. /ARKA/. The people of Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) should immediately exercise their right to self-determination, Artsakh president Arayik Harutyunyan said in an address to the people on Wednesday.
He said the foreign policy directions and priorities of Artsakh remained the same, but their intensity changed. 'The first goal of the government is to ensure the security of the people with the help of political instruments,' he said.
“The entire foreign policy potential of Artsakh and Armenia should rationally and consistently serve the implementation of this priority goal, providing a stable, long-term and dignified safe environment for Karabakh Armenians in their own homeland,” Harutyunyan said.
Harutyunyan said the issues related to the international status of Artsakh should be clarified, which implies international recognition of its independence, based on the unconditional recognition of the right of the people of Artsakh to self-determination.
“If in the pre-war period the settlement of the conflict was based on three basic principles - the exclusion of the use of force or the threat of the use of force, the right of peoples to self-determination and territorial integrity, then this war simply abolished the meaning of two of them - the principles of excluding the threat of the use of force and territorial integrity,” said Harutyunyan.
He said it is a fact that Azerbaijan turned to the use of force, and in a coordinated and deliberate manner committed numerous war crimes and crimes against humanity with the active participation of Turkey and its mercenaries.
At the same time, he said, now there are no visible grounds to assert that the international community wants to punish Azerbaijan for the illegal use of force and crimes against humanity. He noted that Azerbaijan now not only has no problem of territorial integrity in the international arena, but during the last war this country also occupied some territories belonging to the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic, leaving tens of thousands of indigenous Armenians homeless.
“Therefore, if two of the three principles are outdated, then it is necessary to immediately implement the third one- the recognition of the right of the people of Artsakh to self-determination. In this regard, one can take into account both the hardships and sufferings of the people of Artsakh, as well as the threat of existence emanating from new crimes. Therefore, international recognition of Artsakh can become a preventive and compensatory mechanism. It is clear to everyone that the internationally recognized status will give substantial practical guarantees of the security and protection of the rights of our people,” said Harutyunyan.
Harutyunyan said another goal is to restore the territorial integrity of the republic, which is important for security.
The Artsakh president also emphasized the importance of resolving humanitarian issues, which include the problems of prisoners of war and missing persons, ensuring the return of displaced persons to their places of residence, and proper protection of spiritual and cultural heritage.
“In this context, international humanitarian assistance is very important, which is pioneered by Russia with its direct and large-scale assistance. I hope that other states and large international organizations will follow Russia's example and finally break the ice of the international artificial isolation of Artsakh. Of course, Armenia's unconditional, constant and invaluable support to Artsakh cannot be viewed from this point of view, it is exclusively about international assistance,”Harutyunyan said. -0-
