Artsakh: An Independent State

[Aratta-Kingdom]

KIRO MANOYAN: ALL PREREQUISITES EXIST FOR RECOGNITION OF Artsax'S INDEPENDECE

 

armradio.am

24.03.2008 15:48

 

"Nagorno Karabkh has all possible conditionas and prerequisites for its

independence to be recognized," Head of the Armenian Revolutionary

Federation (ARF) Bureau's Hay Dat and Political Affairs Office

Kiro Manoyan told reporters before the start of the ARF Youth Forum

dedicated to the 20th anniversary of the Artsakhi Movement. According

to him, Armenia should be one of the first countries to recognize

the independence of Artsax.

 

With its activity over the past weeks Azerbaijan delays the settlement

of the issue. First, it wants to change the format of negotiations,

which means starting the process over again. According to Kiro Manoyan,

in this case Azerbaijan will already negotiate with Artsax, since

if the format of the talks changes, it means starting the process

from the principal thing, and the principal thing here is Artsax.

 

"If Azerbaijan continues this policy, the main task of Armenia will be

the recognition of Artsax's independence and working to have other

countries of the world do the same," Kiro Manoyan said. He considers

that the recognition of Karabkh's independence is rather realistic

today, but it should be done deriving from the logic of negotiations

and not out of other calculations. "There were suggestions to recognize

the independence of Nagorno Artsax at the National Assembly. I think,

however, that it does not derive from the logic of negotiations today,"

Kiro Manoyan added.

[Ashot]

Armenia will have to recognize Artsax’s independence, if pressures from Azerbaijan continue

 

Political scientist Levon Melik-Shahnazaryan said during the ARF Youth Forum that if the pressures from Azerbaijan continue, Armenia will even have to recognize the independence of Artsax, sign agreements and launch activities to pursue the recognition of its independence by countries of the world. However, according to him, the moment has not matured yet. “If the development of events does not change, it will become a necessity,” Levon Melik-Shahnazaryan said.

 

As for the change of the format of negotiations, Levon Melik-Shahnazaryan supports the 3+3+1 format, where the first three are the Minsk Group Co-Chairs, the remaining three are Armenia, Azerbaijan and Artsax, the last one is the Islamic Republic of Iran. “Several times Iran has expressed such will, and I think it will not refute the proposal to get involved in the negotiation process,” the political scientist said.

 

Public Radio of Armenia

[Aratta-Kingdom]

ATLAS OF NKR WILL BE READY SOON

 

ArtsaxOpen

28-03-2008 11:18:36

 

A few days ago the NKR Real Estate Cadastre Committee discussed the

problems relating to the atlas of NKR. The delegation of the Armenian

Real Estate Cadastre Committee led by the head of the committee Manuk

Vardanyan was also present at the meeting.

 

The work on the atlas began in 2007. According to the editor of the

atlas Manuk Vardanyan, the work is about to finish but some corrections

are necessary.

 

The atlas will include the landscape, history of NKR, maps of Artsakh,

as well as separate maps of Stepanakert and the regional centers,

the Azat Artsakh reports. According to Manuk Vardanyan, the borders of

Artsakh on the maps are the borders set down in the NKR Constitution.

 

[Ashot]

Robert Kocharyan: Armenia must either recognize the independence of NKR or sign an agreement on mutual assistance

01.04.2008 12:46

 

Yesterday RA President Robert Kocharyan visited Artsakh. At the airport the President and his spouse were welcomed by NKR President Bako Sahakyan, Speaker of the NKR National Assembly Ashot Gulyan, Prime Minister Ara Harutyunyan, members of Government.

 

Presidents Robert Kocharyan and Bako Sahakyan had a short meeting at the NKR President’s Office, following which Robert Kocharyan met with representatives of the legislative and executive authorities of Nagorno Artsax.

 

For exceptional service to Nagorno Artsax NKR President Bako Sahakyan awarded Robert Kocharyan with a “Gregory the Illuminator” order.

 

“Discussions on Nagorno Artsax must be held in Armenia in the near future, and I think that a new situation is created. Some things are changing in the world. There is the Kosovo precedent, there are the efforts of Azerbaijan to transfer the negotiation process from the Minsk Group framework to the UN, there are militant statements, which make Armenia and Artsax implement certain changes in their approaches connected with issues of NKR security and the final status of Nagorno Artsax,” Robert Kocharyan said in Stepanakert, turning to the negotiation process son the Artsax conflict settlement.

 

The President noted that the issue has no solution so far. “There are still challenges, and we all must undertake the final recognition of NKR.”

 

Armenia should either recognize the independence of the Nagorno Artsax Republic or sign an agreement on mutual assistance in the field of defense, Robert Kocharyan said. According to the President, such an agreement will prevent the militant statements of Azerbaijan.

 

Public Radio of Armenia

[Aratta-Kingdom]

Interfax News Agency, Russia

April 4 2008

 

 

Armenia may soon recognize Artsax's independence - Kocharian

 

YEREVAN April 4

 

 

Armenian President Robert Kocharian has not ruled out the possibility

that Armenia will soon recognize the independence of breakaway region

Nagorno Artsax.

 

"Azerbaijan's behavior at the negotiations, its latest steps, are

forcing the Armenian side to take resolute action. What steps these

are going to be - the recognition of independence, an agreement in

the sphere of defense or any other - is for the newly elected

president of Armenia to decide," Kocharian said commenting on the

statement made at the Bucharest summit on Thursday by Azerbaijani

Foreign Minister Elmar Mamedyarov, that the question of negotiations

depends on the views of Yerevan.

 

Armenian Public TV quoted Kocharian as saying that "lately Azerbaijan

has been trying to use the internal situation in Armenia to influence

the negotiating process."

 

"This is forcing the Armenian side to be resolute on fundamental

issues. There can be no new concessions or changes of approach," he

said.

 

"Stability, the speed of development and the strength of Armenia are

guarantees of its stable approach to the question of Artsax," he

said.

 

[Aratta-Kingdom]

KIRO MANOYAN: AZERBAIJAN HAS "PASSED ALL BOUNDS"

 

armradio.am

08.04.2008 16:20

 

Azerbaijan has "passed all bounds" with its aspiration to bring

the negotiations out of the OSCE framework, Head of the Armenian

Revolutionary Federation (ARF) Bureau's Hay Dat and Political Affairs

Office Kiro Manoyan told a press conference today. He noted that it

would be good to take the step in the direction of recognition of

Nagorno Artsax and signing a military agreement with it right now.

 

According to Kiro Manoyan, Armenia has practically recognized Nagorno

Artsax. It's not the first year that interstate agreements have been

functioning, Armenia provides loans to Artsax, etc. He noted that

"it's time to show Azerbaijan" that in case it continues the efforts

to bring the negotiation process out of the OSCE Minsk Group format

Armenia can take harsher steps, and then Azerbaijan will have to

negotiate directly with Nagorno Artsax. He expressed confidence

that during Serge Sargsyan's presidency Armenia will not yield its

positions on the Artsax issue.

 

As for possibility of including H. Res. 106 in the agenda of the US

House of Representatives, Kiro Manoyan noted that the issue has always

been on the agenda and the lobbyists are simply waiting for a more

proper opportunity to bring the resolution for a vote. According to

him, taking into consideration the principled position of Democratic

candidates on the recognition of the Armenian Genocide, the Congressmen

may possibly return to the discussion of the question.

 

[Aratta-Kingdom]

Recognition of Nagorno Artsax independence by Armenia looks logical and justified: interview with Hayk Kotanjian

Read it in Russian

 

 

After recognition of Kosovo’s independence and adoption of the UN Resolution on the Artsax settlement proposals were made on the possibility of recognizing the Nagorno Artsax Republic by the Republic of Armenia. The Press Center of the Defense Ministry of the Republic of Armenia (RA) has made an interview on the subject with the Head of the Institute of National Strategic Studies of MoD, RA, Major General, Doctor of Political Sciences Hayk S. Kotanjian.

 

How does the UN Resolution on the Artsax problem correlate with the imperatives of the United Nations Charter and the threat of resumption of war?

 

As is known, Russia, the USA and France, as Co-chairs of the Minsk Group, voted against the UN General Assembly’s Resolution on Nagorno Artsax. The three countries were backed by four other UN members and there were 100 abstentions. This fact confirms that, while adopting UN resolutions, the prevailing majority of the UN members do not endorse transgressions against systemic implementation of fundamental principles and norms of International law.

 

Azerbaijan and other 38 states that supported the resolution were taught a lesson on inadmissibility in pushing through documents in the UN contradicting the latter’s fundamental goals and principles which, as a whole, define the international legal-contractual entity of the United Nations. By this voting, the United Nations confirmed that the unilateral approach in the Azerbaijani resolution on the Artsax conflict, which reflected Azerbaijan’s interpretation of the principle of territorial integrity and thereof ignored the principle of equal rights of peoples and their right to self-determination, was inadmissible. The General Assembly brought forward to the authors of the resolution the fact that Azerbaijan violated her commitments vis-à-vis the UN Charter.

 

Azerbaijan had been virtually pinpointed to her commitments in relation to the definition of “equal rights of peoples and their right to self-determination”, which is registered in the UN Charter as one of its fundamental goals.

 

What are the key messages of the voting results in the UN?

 

The voting results, in a larger sense, include an important political message about the harmfulness of such resolutions for the UN, which violate the very Charter of the United Nations Organization because they ignore its main goal — to maintain global peace and international security. The voting showed that most UN members recognize the legal shortcomings of Azerbaijan’s stance on the Artsax settlement. By imposing a counter-productive model of the Artsax conflict resolution exclusively within the framework of “territorial integrity” — as coined by Azerbaijan — put the UN itself in an awkward situation. Such influential actors in the world community as Russia, the USA, France, and India (the first three are the UN Security Council’s permanent members) which voted against the resolution, as well as those 100 UN member states which abstained, confirmed the major and imperative mission of the UN for all the states: maintenance of international peace.

 

By exceeding ceilings for armaments established by the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe (CFE) and by pushing war propaganda, Azerbaijan shows its disregard of the UN Charter’s key principle of promoting peace. This position of official Baku is a real threat to the stability in such a geostrategically important area as the Black Sea Region is. In this respect, by voting against the resolution, Russia, the USA and France, as UN Security Council members, officially declared to the international community their concern about Baku’s preparations for unleashing a new war in the South Caucasus. The denial of the belligerent behavior of Azerbaijan is the other key message of the United Nations.

 

How would you evaluate the chances of reaching a compromise between the Armenian side and Azerbaijan?

 

In defiance of the norms of International law, Baku doesn’t recognize the Nagorno Artsax Republic (NKR) as subject of International law. At present the Azerbaijani side declares that its compromise is limited merely to its consent of continuing consultations with Armenia on the Artsax problem. Disturbingly, the Republic of Azerbaijan rejects the possibility of a direct dialogue with the authorities of the NKR. In its public policy not only does Azerbaijan undermine the intermediary mission of the Minsk Group but it also doesn’t respond to the recommendations of the Council of Europe to establish a dialogue with Nagorno Artsax, in spite of the NKR’s declared preparedness to negotiate with the AzR (see the PACE resolution # 1416, of January 25, 2005). Azerbaijan’s recent activities directed to undermine the status of Russia, the USA and France within the Minsk Group and its attempt to impose on the United Nations a resolution that contradicted the UN Charter, testified about the counter-productivity of the Baku’s position in the Artsax peace process.

 

Azerbaijan’s “compromise”, as only Baku understands it, is a world away from compromises the Armenian side is prepared to make. In essence, this position is pointless and empty. If Baku doesn’t change its blatantly revanchist position, the chances of reaching a compromise among the parties of the Artsax conflict are not great.

 

What would you say about the offer to sign an agreement between the Republic of Armenia and the NKR as subjects of International law in response to the UN resolution on Artsax?

 

The UN member states in their majority couldn’t ignore the fact that in the United Nations’ system peoples struggling for independence are recognized as primary subjects of International law. This viewpoint is based on principles of International law which consider a people struggling for liberation as a legal party. For instance, the People’s League of the Eastern Pakistan, which represented the part of Bengali people residing in Pakistan and unilaterally declared the Republic of Bangladesh, was such a body taken under the protection of International law.

 

The international legal-entity of the part of the Armenian people residing in Artsax is consolidated by the political and legal fact of uninterrupted and efficient functioning of the legitimate and democratically elected NKR authorities in a period of more than 16 years. These authorities were formed as a result of a referendum held in the period when the Law on the USSR from 1990 to December 21, 1991 was still in force before the proclamation of the Alma-Ata Declaration on the disintegration of the USSR. Thereby, an international-legal basis for concluding international agreements between the RA and the NKR undoubtedly exists.

 

In case Azerbaijan continues rejecting counter-compromises commensurate with the compromises of the Armenian side, the NKR will have the right, taking into consideration the lessons of the history, principles and norms of International law, the OSCE recommendations, to conduct negotiations with the RA on choosing more effective means to maintain regional peace and a model of stable and secure development. To my mind, in this stage, while maintaining the practical interaction in the sphere of defense, it is reasonable not to limit the full-scale cooperation between the NKR and the RA within the frames of any separate sphere.

 

What is your take on a possibility of recognition of the NKR by Armenia?

 

Because of the lack of counter-compromises from Azerbaijan, relatively commensurate with the Armenian proposals, the fact of recognition of the NKR’s independence by the Republic of Armenia seems a logical and a justified component in the process of international recognition of the NKR. In my opinion, at this stage it will be more pragmatic if the process of recognition comes after the development of a cooperation strategy between the NKR and the RA on the questions of maintaining peace, stability and security in the South Caucasus. The main priority of the mentioned Strategy and the policy of its implementation should be a guaranteed exclusion of recurrence of genocide against the Armenians, as well as, secure and democratic development of both sovereign Armenian states in the context of their progressive international integration. If Armenia, Artsakh (Nagorno Artsax) and the Diaspora in allied cooperation possess an agreed strategy on issues of national priorities, a possibility will arise to develop a mid- and long-term policy, as well as design its effective provision.

 

How do you picture the process of recognition of the NKR?

 

Adhering to the universally-recognized principles and norms of International law the Nagorno Artsax and Armenia could institutionalize their interstate cooperation. I mean founding a joint Interstate Commission on elaboration and implementation of strategy on cooperation between the NKR and Armenia on questions of maintaining peace and their sustainable and secured development. The Secretariat of the mentioned Interstate Commission on strategic partnership, headed by the presidents of the two countries, could be composed of plenipotentiary representatives of presidents, legislatures, as well as governments of the NKR and the RA.

 

Particular political-legal products of the Interstate Commission’s pursuit, as well as projects of agreements could be presented for reviewing not only to the state institutions of the parties, but also, if necessary, to the respected organizations of the Diaspora and international community. The interests of strengthening and progressive development of the tandem of the Armenian statehood personalized by the RA and the NKR should be placed in the center of the Strategy and systems of planning, accumulation, coordination and targeted implementation of political, economic, defensive and informational resources. I don’t exclude that with time the Interstate Commission will transform the strategic partnership between the RA and the NKR into a loose confederative cooperation between the two fraternal sovereign states.

 

What do you think of the perspectives of the Minsk Group?

 

I think the Minsk Group has accumulated a huge experience in mediating between the parties of the Artsax conflict and surely has not exhausted its constructive potential.

 

[Aratta-Kingdom]

ON THE STRATEGY OF RECOGNIZING THE REPUBLIC OF NAGORNO Artsax IN THE CONTEXT OF PRINCIPLES AND NORMS OF INTERNATIONAL LAW

 

http://www.nt.am/news.php?banner=0&LangID=1

08.04.08

 

After recognition of Kosovo's independence and adoption of the UN

Resolution on the Artsax settlement proposals were made on the

possibility of recognizing the Nagorno Artsax Republic by the

Republic of Armenia.

 

Today the Press Center of the Defense Ministry of the Republic of

Armenia (RA), took an interview on the subject from the Head of the

Institute of National Strategic Studies of MoD, RA, Major General,

Doctor of Political Sciences Hayk S. Kotanjian.

 

How does the UN Resolution on the Artsax problem correlate with the

imperatives of the United Nations Charter and the threat of resumption

of war?

 

As is known, Russia, the USA and France, as Co-chairs of the Minsk

Group, voted against the UN General Assembly's Resolution on Nagorno

Artsax.

 

The three countries were backed by 4 other UN members and there

were 100 abstentions. This fact confirms that, while adopting

UN resolutions, the prevailing majority of the UN members do not

endorse transgressions against systemic implementation of fundamental

principles and norms of International law.

 

Azerbaijan and other 38 states that supported the resolution were

taught a lesson on inadmissibility in pushing through documents in

the UN contradicting the latter's fundamental goals and principles

which, as a whole, define the international legal-contractual entity

of the United Nations. By this voting, the United Nations confirmed

that the unilateral approach in the Azerbaijani resolution on the

Artsax conflict, which reflected Azerbaijan's interpretation of the

principle of territorial integrity and thereof ignored the principle

of equal rights of peoples and their right to self-determination,

was inadmissible. The General Assembly brought forward to the authors

of the resolution the fact that Azerbaijan violated her commitments

vis-a-vis the UN Charter.

 

Azerbaijan had been virtually pinpointed to her commitments in relation

to the definition of "equal rights of peoples and their right to

self-determination", which is registered in the UN Charter as one of

its fundamental goals.

 

What are the key messages of voting results in the UN?

 

The voting results, in a larger sense, include an important political

message about the harmfulness of such resolutions for the UN, which

violate the very Charter of the United Nations Organization because

they ignore its main goal - to maintain global peace and international

security. The voting showed that most UN members recognize the legal

shortcomings of Azerbaijan's stance on the Artsax settlement. By

imposing a counter-productive model of the Artsax conflict resolution

exclusively within the framework of "territorial integrity" - as

coined by Azerbaijan - put the UN itself in an awkward situation. Such

influential actors in the world community as Russia, the USA, France,

and India (the first three are the UN Security Council's permanent

members) which voted against the resolution, as well as those 100 UN

member states which abstained, confirmed the major and imperative

mission of the UN for all the states: maintenance of international

peace.

 

By exceeding ceilings for armaments established by the Treaty

on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe (CFE) and by pushing war

propaganda, Azerbaijan shows its disregard of the UN Charter's key

principle of promoting peace. This position of official Baku is a

real threat to the stability in such a geostrategically important

area as the Black Sea Region is. In this respect, by voting against

the resolution, Russia, the USA and France, as UN Security Council

members, officially declared to the international community their

concern about Baku's preparations for unleashing a new war in the

South Caucasus. The denial of the belligerent behavior of Azerbaijan

is the other key message of the United Nations.

 

How would you evaluate the chances of reaching a compromise between

the Armenian side and Azerbaijan?

 

In defiance of the norms of International law, Baku doesn't recognize

the Nagorno Karabagh Republic (NKR) as subject of International

law. At present the Azerbaijani side declares that its compromise is

limited merely to its consent of continuing consultations with Armenia

on the Artsax problem. Disturbingly, the Republic of Azerbaijan

rejects the possibility of a direct dialogue with the authorities of

the NKR. In its public policy not only does Azerbaijan undermine the

intermediary mission of the Minsk Group but it also doesn't respond to

the recommendations of the Council of Europe to establish a dialogue

with Nagorno Artsax, in spite of the NKR's declared preparedness to

negotiate with the AzR (see the PACE resolution # 1416, of January 25,

2005). Azerbaijan's recent activities directed to undermine the status

of Russia, the USA and France within the Minsk Group and its attempt

to impose on the United Nations a resolution that contradicted the

UN Charter, testified about the counter-productivity of the Baku's

position in the Artsax peace process.

 

Azerbaijan's "compromise", as only Baku understands it, is a world away

from compromises the Armenian side is prepared to make. In essence,

this position is pointless and empty. If Baku doesn't change its

blatantly revanchist position, the chances of reaching a compromise

among the parties of the Artsax conflict are not great.

 

What would you say about the offer to sign an agreement between the

Republic of Armenia and the NKR as subjects of International law in

response to the UN resolution on Artsax?

 

The UN member states in their majority couldn't ignore the fact that

in the United Nations' system peoples struggling for independence

are recognized as primary subjects of International law. This

viewpoint is based on principles of International law which consider

a people struggling for liberation as a legal party. For instance,

the People's League of the Eastern Pakistan, which represented the

part of Bengali people residing in Pakistan and unilaterally declared

the Republic of Bangladesh, was such a body taken under the protection

of International law.

 

The international legal-entity of the part of the Armenian people

residing in Artsax is consolidated by the political and legal fact

of uninterrupted and efficient functioning of the legitimate and

democratically elected NKR authorities in a period of more than 16

years. These authorities were formed as a result of a referendum held

in the period when the Law on the USSR from 1990 to December 21, 1991

was still in force before the proclamation of the Alma-Ata Declaration

on the disintegration of the USSR. Thereby, an international-legal

basis for concluding international agreements between the RA and the

NKR undoubtedly exists.

 

In case Azerbaijan continues rejecting counter-compromises commensurate

with the compromises of the Armenian side, the NKR will have the right,

taking into consideration the lessons of the history, principles

and norms of International law, the OSCE recommendations, to conduct

negotiations with the RA on choosing more effective means to maintain

regional peace and a model of stable and secure development. To my

mind, in this stage, while maintaining the practical interaction in

the sphere of defense, it is reasonable not to limit the full-scale

cooperation between the NKR and the RA within the frames of any

separate sphere.

 

What is your take on a possibility of recognition of the NKR by

Armenia?

 

Because of the lack of counter-compromises from Azerbaijan, relatively

commensurate with the Armenian proposals, the fact of recognition of

the NKR's independence by the Republic of Armenia seems a logical and

a justified component in the process of international recognition of

the NKR.

 

In my opinion, at this stage it will be more pragmatic if the process

of recognition comes after the development of a cooperation strategy

between the NKR and the RA on the questions of maintaining peace,

stability and security in the South Caucasus. The main priority of the

mentioned Strategy and the policy of its implementation should be a

guaranteed exclusion of recurrence of genocide against the Armenians,

as well as, secure and democratic development of both sovereign

Armenian states in the context of their progressive international

integration. If Armenia, Artsakh (Nagorno Karabagh) and the Diaspora

in allied cooperation possess an agreed strategy on issues of national

priorities, a possibility will arise to develop a mid- and long-term

policy, as well as design its effective provision.

 

How do you picture the process of recognition of the NKR?

 

Adhering to the universally-recognized principles and norms

of International law the Nagorno Artsax and Armenia could

institutionalize their interstate cooperation. I mean founding a joint

Interstate Commission on elaboration and implementation of strategy on

cooperation between the NKR and Armenia on questions of maintaining

peace and their sustainable and secured development. The Secretariat

of the mentioned Interstate Commission on strategic partnership,

headed by the presidents of the two countries, could be composed of

plenipotentiary representatives of presidents, legislatures, as well

as governments of the NKR and the RA.

 

Particular political-legal products of the Interstate Commission's

pursuit, as well as projects of agreements could be presented for

reviewing not only to the state institutions of the parties, but

also, if necessary, to the respected organizations of the Diaspora

and international community.

 

The interests of strengthening and progressive development of the

tandem of the Armenian statehood personalized by the RA and the NKR

should be placed in the center of the Strategy and systems of planning,

accumulation, coordination and targeted implementation of political,

economic, defensive and informational resources. I don't exclude that

with time the Interstate Commission will transform the strategic

partnership between the RA and the NKR into a loose confederative

cooperation between the two fraternal sovereign states.

 

What do you think of the perspectives of the Minsk Group?

 

I think the Minsk Group has accumulated a huge experience in mediating

between the parties of the Artsax conflict and surely has not

exhausted its constructive potential.

 

[Aratta-Kingdom]

RA President: NKR independence irreversible fact

 

16.04.2008/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Azerbaijan should once and for all understand that independence of Nagorno Artsax is an irreversible fact. It’s impossible to imagine NKR under Azerbaijan’s control, Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan said today when representing newly appointed Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian to the MFA leading staff.

 

“Baku erroneously thinks that petrodollars will help them to leave us behind and score a military success. Azerbaijan should understand that sales of natural resources do not ensure welfare and development of the country likewise bellicose statements do not ensure efficiency of the army,” he said. “

 

“The people of Nagorno Artsax have won their independence. With Armenia’s help, the international community will recognize this fact,” Mr Sargsyan’s underscored, the leader’s press office reported.

 

 

[crusader1492]

Azerbaijan has lost Artsax for ever,says Armenia

YEREVAN, April 16 (Reuters) - Azerbaijan must accept that its breakaway Nagorno-Artsax region is an independent republic that will never be returned to Azeri control, Armenia's president said on Wednesday.

 

Nagorno-Artsax, in the Caucasus mountains, broke away from Azerbaijan as the Soviet Union fell apart, sparking a war which killed about 35,000 people. A ceasefire was agreed in 1994 but the search for a lasting peace is stalled.

 

The region's ethnic Armenian separatists run their own affairs, with support from Armenia. The region has declared its independence from Azerbaijan, but this has not been recognised by any state.

 

"Azerbaijan must understand the simple reality that the existence of the republic of Nagorno-Artsax's independence is irreversible," President Serzh Sarksyan, who was sworn in this month, said in comments supplied by his press service.

 

"It is impossible to even imagine that the Republic of Nagorno-Artsax could be subordinate in any way to Azerbaijan," said Sarksyan, who is a native of the region.

 

"The people of Nagorno-Artsax have won their right to a free and independent life. And through our efforts, that right must be recognised by the international community."

 

Azerbaijan says Armenia has illegally occupied Nagorno-Artsax, and a number of Azeri districts surrounding the region.

 

Baku, which announced a 53 percent rise in military spending this month, says it is committed to stalled peace talks but has refused to rule out using force to restore its control.

 

Azerbaijan and Armenia are still officially at war and their troops frequently fight skirmishes along a heavily mined front line. Up to 16 soldiers were killed in a clash earlier last month.

 

Russia, the United States and France are mediators in the conflict. (Reporting by Guy Faulconbridge, editing by Richard Balmforth)

Edited April 16, 2008 by crusader1492

[Aratta-Kingdom]

Artsax's Parliament Thanks US Congressman for Supporting Artsax Independence

 

 

 

STEPANAKERT (ArmRadio)--Speaker of the Nagorno-Artsax Republic National Assembly Ashot Ghulyan sent a letter to US House of Representatives member Michael McNulty Wednesday expressing the republics gratitude for the congressman's ongoing support of Nagorno-Artsax's independence.

"I express my gratitude to you for your words of welcome on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the national liberation movement of Artsakh's Armenians," Ghulyan said. "We highly appreciate the consistent assistance of our friends in the US Congress aimed at freedom, independence, as well as the democratic and economic development of Artsakh."

Ghulyan thanked the congressman for his political assistance, which he said is very important against the backdrop of Azerbaijan's increasing belligerence and unwillingness to enter into dialogue with the republic.

Instead of working toward peace, stability, and prosperity in the region, Azerbaijan continues to threaten Nagorno-Artsax with a new war, Ghulyan noted in the letter.

Ghulyan said that the people of Nagorno-Artsax Republic are determined to continue to build a free, secure, democratic and successful country for present and future generations.

In the letter, the Artsax Parliament Chair expressed hope that cooperation in establishing peace and democracy in the South Caucasus will continue between Armenia and Artsakh and their friends in Washington.

 

 

[Aratta-Kingdom]

 

 

Artsax precedent for small sovereign states

 

 

18.04.2008

 

 

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Long before Kosovo was on the international agenda, it was mountainous Artsax that challenged Stalin’s legacy and offered a constitutional, juridical and legal reversal of that legacy through a referendum, member of Armenian delegation to PACE, Heritage party leader Raffi K. Hovannisian said in his address to PACE spring session.

 

“It was the first step in the decolonisation of the Soviet Union and it is in this forum that one day an Azerbaijani colleague will stand up and say that responsibility is collective. When we talk about refugees and internally displaced persons and about territorial and security issues and suffering, the issues belong to all of us and not to any of us separately. Maybe they will say that we, too, erred in launching a war of aggression against Artsax’s liberty instead of talking to its leaders and its people. Maybe that day will come to pass, beginning here, in this Chamber,” he said.

 

“Despite the war of aggression unleashed upon mountainous Artsax by Azerbaijan - a conflict that has cast untold loss, suffering and destinies of displacement upon hundreds of thousands of human beings on both sides - neither Artsax nor any Armenian delegates have ever abused that pain for the repeated assertion of polemical and devious arguments relating to refugees, internally displaced persons, “occupied” territories and a variety of other familiar talking points. Its manifest, therefore, that the true precedent for small contemporary sovereignties is indeed mountainous Artsax.”

 

“The case in point is mountainous Artsax or Artsakh which, on the eve of the Berlin Wall’s fall into history and long before Kosovo became current, heralded a new era of liberty, legality and democracy for the republics and other administrative entities of the Soviet Union. The citizens of Artsax spearheaded the decolonisation of the Union of Soviet Socialists Republics by declaring their independence in a referendum held in strict compliance with international and controlling Soviet laws. In determining to master their future they triggered the long-overdue process of democratic correction of Stalin’s legacy, which continues to haunt many freedom-loving people to this day,” he said, PACE communication unit reported.

 

According to Heritage party’s press office, Mr Hovannisian will leave Strasbourg for Serbia and Kosovo to participate in the NATO PA regional mission.

 

[Aratta-Kingdom]

Armenian speaker defends Nagorno-Artsax's right to self-determination

 

Interfax News Agency, Russia

April 18 2008

 

STEPANAKERT April 18 -- Armenian parliamentary speaker Tigran Torosian

has spoken in favor of Nagorno-Artsax's right to self- determination.

 

"From the viewpoint of international standards, Nagorno-Artsax's

right to self-determination looks infallible, and the constitution

of Nagorno-Artsax absolutely meets European standards," Torosian

told journalists in Stepanakert on Friday, following a meeting with

Nagorno- Artsax speaker Ashot Gulian.

 

"Nagorno-Artsax, as an internationally recognized party to the

conflict, should also return to the negotiating process," Torosian

said.

 

In this light, he called for "consolidation of efforts of all

Armenians" to ensure international recognition of Nagorno-Artsax's

independence, he said.

 

Torosian and Gulian called on European institutions to attach more

significance to conflict areas, particularly Nagorno-Artsax. "The

populations in those territories suffered more than others, but

European institutions, whose activity is based on the protection

of human rights, have strange attitudes toward them. This should

not depend on whether these territories are recognized or not,"

Torosian said.

 

He described it as an important achievement that mediators in settling

the Nagorno-Artsax conflict have mentioned the right to self-

determination in the past several years.

 

[Aratta-Kingdom]

RA President: Artsakhi people won right to independence

 

 

29.04.2008

 

 

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan received Tuesday Bulgaria’s Ambassador to Armenia Todor Marinov Staikov, the presidential press office reported.

 

The diplomat conveyed Bulgaria’s President Georgi Parvanov’s offer to visit his country.

 

The parties stressed the importance of strengthening bilateral relations and collaboration in the economic field. Necessity of soonest formation of a joint intergovernmental commission was also noted.

 

President Sargsyan and Ambassador Staikov referred to the Nagorno Artsax conflict settlement process and Azerbaijan’s warlike rhetoric despite commitments to resolve all problems peacefully.

 

“Artsakh has won the right to independent and free life. It’s impossible to ignore the people’s right self-determination.

 

[Aratta-Kingdom]

Parliament Tells Government to Intensify Drive for Artsax Peace

 

 

 

YEREVAN (Combined Sources)--The Armenian parliament called on the government Tuesday to pursue a more proactive policy on the Nagorno-Artsax conflict, which it said would boost prospects for international recognition of the Artsax Republic.

The resolution tasking the new government with pursuing a more vigorous Artsax policy, was overwhelmingly adopted by the National Assembly on Tuesday with a vote of 96 to 3, with 3 abstentions. It called on Yerevan to establish closer links with the leadership of Artsax in order to ensure the full security and defense of the republic in case of military aggression by Azerbaijan. It also called on the Armenian Government to embark on a far-reaching public relations campaign for Artsax independence.

The resolution also tasked Yerevan with working to restore Artsax's seat at the negotiations, and stressed that Artsax's right to self-determination is "non-negotiable." The document also called on Yerevan to prepare "alternative possibilities" of achieving international recognition of the Nagorno-Artsax Republic's independence if the talks sponsored by the OSCE Minsk Group collapse.

Since 1997, the peace talks over the conflict have been conducted by the American, French and Russian co-chairmen of the Minsk Group. But Azerbaijan has been torpedoing international efforts to settle the Artsax conflict in recent years.

In particular, President Ilham Aliev has rejected any peaceful settlement that would fall short of restoring Azerbaijani control over Artsax. He has also said that Baku will never agree to a referendum of self-determination in the disputed enclave.

On March 14, Azerbaijan introduced a resolution in the UN General Assembly reaffirming the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan, and calling for withdrawal of Armenian forces from "occupied territories." The resolution passed with 39 votes. America, Russia and France voted against the resolution. Two days earlier, official Baku signaled its interest in either replacing the current Minsk Group co-chairs or outright dissolving the mediating body.

Baku's diplomatic maneuvers have come amid an increasing belligerence in the attitude of Azerbaijani President Illham Aliyev toward Artsax and Armenia. With Nagorno-Artsax a major election issue this year in Azerbaijan, the Azeri president, who will be running for re-election in October, has been toughening his already bellicose position on the Nagorno-Artsax Republic, threatening to re-ignite war and take back the Armenian territory by force. Earlier this month, Aliyev announced his country's military budget would be increased this year by over 50% to $2 billion.

The announcement that Baku would be funneling more oil wealth into its military came only weeks after Azeri Armed Forces violated the Nagorno-Artsax ceasefire line by attacking Nagorno-Artsax Republic Army positions northeast of the Martakert Region and temporarily capturing a Artsax defense position. The unprecedented scale of the attack and the threats of renewed war coming from Baku, have put Armenia and international mediators on high alert.

Shortly before resigning on April 9, former President Robert Kocharian said Armenia should recognize the Nagorno-Artsax Republic as an independent state if Baku pulls out of the Minsk Group process. He said Yerevan should at least strengthen its political and military links with the republic, a view, which was echoed by the Armenian parliament Tuesday.

 

[Johannes]

http://www.armtown.com/news/am/aza/20080519/6065/

ԻՐԱՆԻ ԴԵՍՊԱՆԻ ԿՏՐՈՒԿ ՀԱՅՏԱՐԱՐՈՒԹՅՈՒՆԸ

 

[hosank]

well at any rate, nkr has to be recognised as a state before it officially joins the RoA

[Guderian]

well at any rate, nkr has to be recognised as a state before it officially joins the RoA

Agreed

[Ashot]

RAFFI HOVANNISSIAN GIVES REASONS

 

[06:07 pm] 07 July, 2008

 

“The lack of lawfulness and legitimacy in Armenia affects the country’s foreign policy,” Leader of Zharangutiun (Heritage) Party Raffi Hovannissian and member of the Armenian delegation to the PACE, told a press conference today.

 

Today Raffi Hovannissian explained why he had boycotted the PACE session. He says the Armenian delegation invested all its resource and potential to make the resolution a little acceptable, meanwhile if Armenia is a democratic state, our delegation could be more effective and compete with our neighbours, and would not be measured by the same scales.

 

“Armenia’s external ties and the Artash conflict are in a state of neglect. The sad resolution adopted in the United Nations Organisation is an anti-historic and illegal document which was put into effect by international organisations. Each Armenian should worry about the state of democracy in Armenia.”

 

Mr. Hovannissian is confident that if we had taken a test on democracy during Kocharian’s office and made the country a legal and democratic state, we could represent Armenia at the PACE in due order.

 

The questions are interrelated and we cannot imitate to be democratic and conceal our shortcomings,” he said.

 

Raffi Hovannissian drew the presentees’ attention to the fact that the PACE president considers Nagorno-Artsax as an occupied territory by the Republic of Armenia while NKR is an Azeri territory. “Firstly, we must blame ourselves because our non-democratic stance found such a feedback.”

 

Raffi Hovannisian says when the PACE president is expected to arrive in Armenia next week and it is worthwhile to ask him on the basis of which facts he considers Artsax as an occupied territory.

 

As of President Serzh Sarkissian’s statements to introduce reforms in the country, the Zharangutiun leader said, “Words and actions are uncompliant in Armenia. Only pan-national election will change the current scene.”