Only NKR population must participate in referendum over final status: Armenia’s foreign ministry
It is Azerbaijan who failed the realization of the 1993 UN Security Council resolutions, Armenia’s deputy FM Shavarsh Kocharyan said when requested by Armenpress to comment on Azerbaijani deputy FM Araz Azimov’s statements.
Mr. Kocharyan, how would you comment on Azerbaijan’s deputy FM Azimov’s statements on the Karabakh settlement?
The settlement of any conflict, indeed, must be based on international rights and firstly on the UN Charter. The deputy FM needs to be reminded that, according to the UN charter, the territorial integrity of a state cannot be opposed to the selfdetermination right of the people. In terms of the UN Security Council’s 1993 resolutions, it was Azerbaijan who failed the realization of these resolutions, resolutions, the main requirement of which were stopping military operations.
The existence of NKR territories under Azerbaijani control, as well as Azerbaijani territories under NKR control, are one of the consequences of Azerbaijan’s aggression against the self-determined Nagorno Karabakh and the failure to meet the UN Security Council’s 1993 resolutions by Azerbaijan itself. The Deputy FM, basically, forgot that it is only the Nagorno Karabakh population who must take part in the referendum having a mandatory legal force on the final status of Nagorno Karabakh. While in this issue, citing the Azerbaijani Constitution is irrelevant, because the Constituion has been adopted after the trilateral ceasere agreement between Azerbaijan, Nagorno Karabakh and Armenia.
By this, Azerbaijan has recognized Nagorno Karabakh at least as a party of the conflict. Moreover, no state has the authority to oppose its internal legislation, including the Constitution, to internationally assumed commitments, moreover commitments assumed under the UN Charter. Finally, it only remains to sympathize Mr. Azimov, who doesn’t conceal his disappointment that in case of the Minsk Group co-chairs the Azerbaijani ‘caviar diplomacy’ was unsuccessful and the Minsk Group Co-chairs do not serve Azerbaijan’s interests.
