Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

The Southern Caucasus within the Context of the Crimea Crisis

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

  • The Southern Caucasus within the Context of the Crimea Crisis

    International Policy Digest
    April 6 2014


    The Southern Caucasus within the Context of the Crimea Crisis

    By Farhad R. Najafov

    The Crimea incident, which occurred against the background of
    heightened tensions between the West and Russia, might reveal the
    ambitions of some political forces that took advantage of the
    opportunity in Kiev.

    Although I am not passing judgment on either the West or Russia it
    must be said that the escalation of this type in the post-Soviet era
    is not promising for the future of the region. During the crisis,
    views within the Southern Caucasus differed significantly from other
    post-Soviet states. Even before the crisis it was clear that Georgia
    leaned heavily towards the West. However, Armenia's favoring the
    Russian initiated Customs Union instead of the Association Agreement
    with the European Union, which was to have been signed in Vilnius in
    November of 2013 along with Ukraine, surprised the world community.
    While surprising, it should be taken into account that from 2007-2013
    the European Union gave Armenia grants in the amount of EURO 295 million
    for development and reconstruction projects. This amount exceeded 10%
    of the Armenian budget in 2013.

    Azerbaijan voted in the UN General Assembly on the adoption of a
    resolution calling upon states not to recognize changes in the status
    of Crimea and was one of the 100 states that voted in favor of the
    territorial integrity of Ukraine. Garen Nazarian, the Armenian
    Ambassador to UN, tactfully accused those who voted for the resolution
    of colonialist behavior. It is not surprising that this accusation by
    the Armenian Ambassador was called shameful by Alexandre Arzumanyan,
    an Armenian MP. In contrast, Elmar Mammadyarov, the Minister of
    Foreign Affairs, openly declared Azerbaijan's support of the
    territorial integrity of Ukraine. International law does recognize the
    principle of self-determination.

    The Armenian state was established in 1918. Shortly after regaining
    independence in 1991 20% of Azerbaijan territory was occupied and
    almost 1 million people were expelled and became IDPs. Even today
    people of the Southern Caucasus, both Armenians and Azerbaijanis, are
    suffering from the consequences of this conflict. Recently, Wayne
    Merry, at the American Foreign Policy Council in Washington, DC voiced
    a very interesting conclusion. According to Merry, the US lost an
    opportunity of being involved in the Southern Caucasus in several
    regional projects.

    Serzh Sargsyan, the President of Armenia, called Russian President
    Vladimir Putin and expressed his support of the Crimean referendum.
    Prior to this, Andranik Manukyan, the Armenian Ambassador to Ukraine
    had been invited to Ukraine's Ministry of Foreign Affairs in order to
    identify whether Armenia supported the referendum. In addition, the
    Armenian population of the unrecognized Republic of Nagorno-Karabakh
    held a solidarity rally complete with rhetoric in support of the
    Crimean referendum. The slogan of the rally was the right of
    self-determination of nations.

    However, Russia does not recognize the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic
    separate from the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan. In addition,
    Russian journalist Maxim Shevchenko, in an interview said: "Attempts
    to compare the Crimea and the Karabakh conflicts are radically wrong.
    Status-quo over Karabakh is a result of war and there are thousands of
    people were killed and some hundred thousands were expelled to leave
    the lands where they used to live for centuries. As opposed to
    Karabakh conflict, there was not any ethnic cleansing in the Crimean
    crisis." According to Shevchenko, in order to hold a legal referendum
    on self-determination in Karabakh, displaced Azerbaijani from Karabakh
    have to return back to their homeland and only then will the
    referendum be legal.

    The Crimea crisis has produced both political and legal assessments.
    The Venice Commission, an advisory body of the Council of Europe,
    composed of independent experts in the field of constitutional law,
    adopted a resolution on March 21st on the legality of the Crimean
    referendum. An excerpt from the resolution reads: "The principle of
    territorial integrity commands very widespread recognition - whether
    express or tacit - in constitutional law. On the other hand,
    constitutional law just as comprehensively rules out secession or the
    redrawing of borders. This should come as no surprise since that
    branch of law is the very foundation of the state, which might be
    deprived of one of its constituent parts if such possibilities were
    provided for."

    The position of Armenia regarding this conflict is not accepted by the
    West. Carl Bildt, Sweden's Minister of Foreign Affairs suggested that
    it is impossible to consider conditions in Armenia in the same
    political league as Ukraine.

    In the final analysis Ukraine played a role of a political training
    ground for both the West and Russia. It is too early to forecast
    winners, however the position of the US in this conflict was peaceful
    and constructive, which deserves merit because the legal fact is that
    Russian forces violated the territorial integrity of Ukraine. Maybe
    the following conclusion by George Firedman of Stratfor Global
    Intelligence is helpful: "Having encouraged Ukrainian independence,
    the United States -- in trying to protect that independence and the
    independence of other countries in the region -- is creating an
    alliance structure that will include countries, such as Azerbaijan..."


    http://www.internationalpolicydigest.org/2014/04/06/southern-caucasus-within-context-crimea-crisis/

Working...
X