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SEARCHING FOR SOLUTIONS IN THE SOUTH CAUCASUS
Yerkir.am
Editorial
July 06, 2007
Armen Rustamian's statement at the session of the Socialist
International's Council Geneva, June 30, 2007
My today's speech will concentrate on the South Caucasus, a region that
was part of the Soviet Union for seven decades, a region where there
are three internationally recognized republics - Armenia, Azerbaijan,
and Georgia. There are also several so-called "unrecognized states"
in this region, states that emerged after conflicts that were either
frozen during the Soviet period or were aggravated by the Soviet
Union. The South Caucasus is often viewed as a uniform political
region, but this is more a wish than reality.
The three republics in the region are at different levels
of development as states, as democratic systems and as
economies. According to American analytical centers Georgia occupies
the 58th place in the list of the world's "failed states", Azerbaijan
occupies the 62nd position while Armenia is the 112th.
GUAM comprised of Georgia, Ukraine, Azerbaijan and Moldova is trying
to become more active in this region politically dividing it.
Our region is a geographical crossroad. It is also a crossroad
of the political interests of global and regional forces. The
strategic interests of Russia and the United States cross in
this region. Russian military bases are located in Armenia based
on Armenia's invitation. Russian troops are withdrawn from Georgia
based on the latter's demands. American armed forces are dislocated in
Georgia to train the Georgian army. The Azeri armed forces are trained
by the Turkish army and the Russian anti-missile radar proposed for
joint Russian-American exploitation is located in Azerbaijan.
Finally, the region is bordering Iran military actions against which
on the part of the US cannot be considered unlikely.
Nevertheless, Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia have similarities. All
three of them are members of the Council of Europe and the Organization
for Security and Cooperation in Europe. All three states are part of
the EU's New Neighborhood Policy and have developed their individual
action plans for cooperation with the EU in the framework of this
policy. All three countries are part of NATO's Partnership for Peace
Program and have their individual action plans for cooperation with
NATO. All three countries receive military aid from the US.
There are three unresolved conflicts in this region that constitutes a
crossroad of strategic interests of regional states as well as regional
and global powers. These conflicts are the Nagorno Karabagh conflict
with Azerbaijan, and the Abkhazian and South Ossetian conflicts
with Georgia.
These conflicts might seem similar but if you go a bit deeper into
the nature of each of the conflicts you will understand that they
are different.
The conflict of Nagorno Karabagh on the one hand and the conflicts of
Abkhazia and South Ossetia on the other are fundamentally different
both in terms of their nature and expression, and in terms of their
current status and most importantly, the bases, means and levels for
fulfillment of the involved nations' right for self determination.
The fact is that a ceasefire has been in effect on the
Karabagh-Azerbaijan front for 13 years without any external
peacekeeping force even though the ceasefire was violated from time
to time. Meanwhile, in Abkhazia and South Ossetia there are Russian
peacekeeping forces that have international mandate.
The peace talks of the three conflicts are also different. United
National and the OSCE participate in the settlement of the South
Ossetian conflict and the negotiations are held not at the level of the
highest rank officials. The OSCE's Minsk Group with its co-chairing
countries, Russia, United States and France, is the mediator for the
settlement of the Nagorno Karabagh conflict.
Armenia, as the main guarantor for the security of the Nagorno Karabagh
Republic and its population is actively participating in the peace
talks. In fact direct negotiations on the level of the presidents
and foreign ministers of Armenia and Azerbaijan have been held in
the past 8-9 years.
All state structures are functioning in the Nagorno Karabagh Republic
including the President, the parliament, the government, the armed
forces, the education system, the elected local self-government bodies,
public and independent media. The constitution of the Nagorno Karabagh
Republic was adopted last year at a constitutional referendum. The
third President of the Nagorno Karabagh Republic will soon be
elected. The economy is developing, there are foreign investments.
The Nagorno Karabagh Republic has its representations in Europe,
USA, and the Middle East. The Republic receives direct assistance
from international organizations and the United States of America.
I stated all these facts to explain that the three conflicts are
different, and therefore, their settlement requires different
approaches. Turkey's role cannot be ignored in the process of
settlement of the conflicts in the South Caucasus. Being one of the
countries that has a land border with the South Caucasus Turkey has
had and continues to have a highly negative role for establishing
security and stability in the region. This country that strives for
EU membership rejected to establish diplomatic relations with Armenia
since the first day of Armenia's independence in 1991. Turkey has
blockaded Armenia since 1993 to support its kin-nation, Azerbaijan.
This state that has committed the Armenian Genocide and ethnic
cleansing of the largest part of Armenia in 1915-1923, the state
that denies its responsibility for this crime against the humanity,
the state that violates the international agreements, this state
is imposing preconditions for opening its border and establishing
diplomatic relations with Armenia.
Moreover, Turkey is actively involved in regional initiatives that
isolate Armenia including the Baku-Tbilisi, Jeyhan oil pipeline,
Baku-Tbilisi-Erzerum gas pipeline, and Kars-Akhalkalaki-Tbilisi-Baku
railroad.
We are not speaking about the policy of destruction of thousands of
Armenian religious and cultural monuments on the territory of the
present Turkey and violation of the rights of the Armenian minority
living in Turkey.
Summing up my statement and concentrating on the search for solutions
in the South Caucasus, we propose,
a) Not to support any initiative resulting in military, strategic,
economic, energy or transport divisions in the South Caucasus. Such
initiatives not only fail to settle the existing problems but also
create new tensions and conflicts.
b) Viewing the South Caucasus as one geographic region where a
unified political, economic, transport and energy system as well
as new security architecture is desirable, to be more active in the
South Caucasus developing relations with the three countries in the
region based on the peculiarities of each of them.
c) To reject and prevent the dangerous formula stating that "no
cooperation between the parties is possible until the final settlement
of the conflict". It should be noted that it was this approach that
served as the main reason for freezing the conflicts up to date.
d) The solutions for the conflicts in the South Caucasus must be
sought to correspond to the peculiarities of each of the conflicts
and must be based exclusively on peaceful means. Such solutions
must be based on the undeniable principle of respect for the human
and the nations recognized by the international law, must take into
consideration the challenges for security and stability in the region
and get rid of the Soviet heritage of the creation and deepening of
the conflicts. Threats to resort to military measure for conflict
settlement and attempt to use the conflicts for pursuing other goals
must be considered unacceptable.
e) Development of democracy in the three countries and the region in
general must be considered the only way for the peaceful settlement
of the conflicts and peaceful coexistence of the nations.
f) To make sure that the political, socio-economic, cultural and
educational problems of national minorities in the countries of the
region are solved based on the accepted international standards to
ensure that these problems do not escalate into new conflicts.
We are sure that the Socialist International, both as a unified
structure and as individual parties working in different countries
and international organizations, has a great role in the settlement
of all issues pointed out by us.
Thank you for your attention.
Yerkir.am
Editorial
July 06, 2007
Armen Rustamian's statement at the session of the Socialist
International's Council Geneva, June 30, 2007
My today's speech will concentrate on the South Caucasus, a region that
was part of the Soviet Union for seven decades, a region where there
are three internationally recognized republics - Armenia, Azerbaijan,
and Georgia. There are also several so-called "unrecognized states"
in this region, states that emerged after conflicts that were either
frozen during the Soviet period or were aggravated by the Soviet
Union. The South Caucasus is often viewed as a uniform political
region, but this is more a wish than reality.
The three republics in the region are at different levels
of development as states, as democratic systems and as
economies. According to American analytical centers Georgia occupies
the 58th place in the list of the world's "failed states", Azerbaijan
occupies the 62nd position while Armenia is the 112th.
GUAM comprised of Georgia, Ukraine, Azerbaijan and Moldova is trying
to become more active in this region politically dividing it.
Our region is a geographical crossroad. It is also a crossroad
of the political interests of global and regional forces. The
strategic interests of Russia and the United States cross in
this region. Russian military bases are located in Armenia based
on Armenia's invitation. Russian troops are withdrawn from Georgia
based on the latter's demands. American armed forces are dislocated in
Georgia to train the Georgian army. The Azeri armed forces are trained
by the Turkish army and the Russian anti-missile radar proposed for
joint Russian-American exploitation is located in Azerbaijan.
Finally, the region is bordering Iran military actions against which
on the part of the US cannot be considered unlikely.
Nevertheless, Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia have similarities. All
three of them are members of the Council of Europe and the Organization
for Security and Cooperation in Europe. All three states are part of
the EU's New Neighborhood Policy and have developed their individual
action plans for cooperation with the EU in the framework of this
policy. All three countries are part of NATO's Partnership for Peace
Program and have their individual action plans for cooperation with
NATO. All three countries receive military aid from the US.
There are three unresolved conflicts in this region that constitutes a
crossroad of strategic interests of regional states as well as regional
and global powers. These conflicts are the Nagorno Karabagh conflict
with Azerbaijan, and the Abkhazian and South Ossetian conflicts
with Georgia.
These conflicts might seem similar but if you go a bit deeper into
the nature of each of the conflicts you will understand that they
are different.
The conflict of Nagorno Karabagh on the one hand and the conflicts of
Abkhazia and South Ossetia on the other are fundamentally different
both in terms of their nature and expression, and in terms of their
current status and most importantly, the bases, means and levels for
fulfillment of the involved nations' right for self determination.
The fact is that a ceasefire has been in effect on the
Karabagh-Azerbaijan front for 13 years without any external
peacekeeping force even though the ceasefire was violated from time
to time. Meanwhile, in Abkhazia and South Ossetia there are Russian
peacekeeping forces that have international mandate.
The peace talks of the three conflicts are also different. United
National and the OSCE participate in the settlement of the South
Ossetian conflict and the negotiations are held not at the level of the
highest rank officials. The OSCE's Minsk Group with its co-chairing
countries, Russia, United States and France, is the mediator for the
settlement of the Nagorno Karabagh conflict.
Armenia, as the main guarantor for the security of the Nagorno Karabagh
Republic and its population is actively participating in the peace
talks. In fact direct negotiations on the level of the presidents
and foreign ministers of Armenia and Azerbaijan have been held in
the past 8-9 years.
All state structures are functioning in the Nagorno Karabagh Republic
including the President, the parliament, the government, the armed
forces, the education system, the elected local self-government bodies,
public and independent media. The constitution of the Nagorno Karabagh
Republic was adopted last year at a constitutional referendum. The
third President of the Nagorno Karabagh Republic will soon be
elected. The economy is developing, there are foreign investments.
The Nagorno Karabagh Republic has its representations in Europe,
USA, and the Middle East. The Republic receives direct assistance
from international organizations and the United States of America.
I stated all these facts to explain that the three conflicts are
different, and therefore, their settlement requires different
approaches. Turkey's role cannot be ignored in the process of
settlement of the conflicts in the South Caucasus. Being one of the
countries that has a land border with the South Caucasus Turkey has
had and continues to have a highly negative role for establishing
security and stability in the region. This country that strives for
EU membership rejected to establish diplomatic relations with Armenia
since the first day of Armenia's independence in 1991. Turkey has
blockaded Armenia since 1993 to support its kin-nation, Azerbaijan.
This state that has committed the Armenian Genocide and ethnic
cleansing of the largest part of Armenia in 1915-1923, the state
that denies its responsibility for this crime against the humanity,
the state that violates the international agreements, this state
is imposing preconditions for opening its border and establishing
diplomatic relations with Armenia.
Moreover, Turkey is actively involved in regional initiatives that
isolate Armenia including the Baku-Tbilisi, Jeyhan oil pipeline,
Baku-Tbilisi-Erzerum gas pipeline, and Kars-Akhalkalaki-Tbilisi-Baku
railroad.
We are not speaking about the policy of destruction of thousands of
Armenian religious and cultural monuments on the territory of the
present Turkey and violation of the rights of the Armenian minority
living in Turkey.
Summing up my statement and concentrating on the search for solutions
in the South Caucasus, we propose,
a) Not to support any initiative resulting in military, strategic,
economic, energy or transport divisions in the South Caucasus. Such
initiatives not only fail to settle the existing problems but also
create new tensions and conflicts.
b) Viewing the South Caucasus as one geographic region where a
unified political, economic, transport and energy system as well
as new security architecture is desirable, to be more active in the
South Caucasus developing relations with the three countries in the
region based on the peculiarities of each of them.
c) To reject and prevent the dangerous formula stating that "no
cooperation between the parties is possible until the final settlement
of the conflict". It should be noted that it was this approach that
served as the main reason for freezing the conflicts up to date.
d) The solutions for the conflicts in the South Caucasus must be
sought to correspond to the peculiarities of each of the conflicts
and must be based exclusively on peaceful means. Such solutions
must be based on the undeniable principle of respect for the human
and the nations recognized by the international law, must take into
consideration the challenges for security and stability in the region
and get rid of the Soviet heritage of the creation and deepening of
the conflicts. Threats to resort to military measure for conflict
settlement and attempt to use the conflicts for pursuing other goals
must be considered unacceptable.
e) Development of democracy in the three countries and the region in
general must be considered the only way for the peaceful settlement
of the conflicts and peaceful coexistence of the nations.
f) To make sure that the political, socio-economic, cultural and
educational problems of national minorities in the countries of the
region are solved based on the accepted international standards to
ensure that these problems do not escalate into new conflicts.
We are sure that the Socialist International, both as a unified
structure and as individual parties working in different countries
and international organizations, has a great role in the settlement
of all issues pointed out by us.
Thank you for your attention.