Obama Should Defend Self-Determination for Karabagh

Obama Should Defend Self-Determination for Karabagh

Thu, Jun 23 2011

By: Aram Hamparian

WASHINGTON-Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA) executive
director Aram Hamparian, in the wake of President Obama’s speech this
evening championing the right of the citizens of Afghanistan and all
peoples to live in freedom, issued a statement citing the
Administration’s failure to apply the democratic principle of
self-determination in its Nagorno Karabagh diplomacy.
In his speech, President Obama asserted that: `In all that we do, we
must remember that what sets America apart is not solely our power – it
is the principles upon which our union was founded. We are a nation
that brings our enemies to justice while adhering to

the rule of law, and respecting the rights of all our citizens. We
protect our own freedom and prosperity by extending it to others. We
stand not for empire, but for self-determination. That is why we have
a stake in the democratic aspirations that are now washing across the
Arab World. We will support those revolutions with fidelity to our
ideals, with the power of our example, and with an unwavering belief
that all human beings deserve to live with freedom and dignity.’

The full text of Hamparian’s statement is provided below:

The direction of U.S. diplomacy on Nagorno Karabagh, including the
OSCE Minsk Group proposal which will be discussed at the upcoming
Kazan summit, runs contrary to the very principles – self-determination,
freedom, and democracy – that President Obama so ardently advocated this
evening.

While we certainly welcome the ongoing efforts of the OSCE to bring
about a fair and lasting peace, we remain troubled that the deal
presently under consideration would force the citizens of the Nagorno
Karabagh Republic – who are barred from acting as a party

to the ongoing negotiations that will determine their fate – to trade
their hard fought security and well-deserved independence for an
undefined `interim status’ that will increase, not diminish, the risks
of renewed Azerbaijani aggression.

It is reckless and irresponsible to ask Armenians to make upfront,
concrete, and effectively irrevocable land, status, and security
concessions in exchange for deferred and easily reversible Azerbaijani
promises of a vaguely defined `expression of will’ regarding Artsakh’s
status that may or may not – depending on Baku’s willingness – take place
at some point in the future.

The Obama Administration should, first and foremost, require that the
official representatives of the Nagorno Karabagh Republic be fully and
immediately reinstated in the peace process, and then move forward,
not by pressuring the Armenian side into reckless concessions, but
rather by acting in the spirit of the President’s powerful words this
evening, and in accord with his campaign commitments to seek a lasting
settlement for Nagorno Karabagh based upon America’s founding
commitment to the principles of democracy and self determination.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress