ARMENIAN FM ADDRESSES OSCE MINISTERIAL COUNCIL, REFERS TO GENOCIDE CENTENNIAL, KARABAKH CONFLICT
12:58, 05 Dec 2014
Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian made a statement at the
21st meeting of the OSCE Ministerial Council in Basel:
Mr. Chairman,
Dear Colleagues,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
I would like to extend my gratitude to the Chairman-in-Office, Didier
Burkhalter and his team for their efforts and contribution to the
activities of the Organization throughout the year, as well as to
thank the Government of Switzerland for the hospitality and the good
organization of the Ministerial Council.
As we mark the centennial of the First World War, and approach the
70th anniversary of the end of the Second World War, it is worth to
remember that the norms and principles on which this Organization
is based were embraced as an outcome of painful lessons and bitter
experiences of devastating calamities, millions of casualties and
nearly complete destruction of the whole continent.
The first Genocide of the 20th century, the centennial of which will
be commemorated next year, was perpetrated in the Ottoman Empire
against the Armenian nation, under the cover of the First World War.
It stands as a witness to what extent humanity can degrade in the
absence of international system of protection of human rights and
security.
The direct consequence of the tragic history of the 20th century was
the aspiration to create a new common security space, free of wars,
dividing lines, closed borders and spheres of influence, where the
dignity of individual and fundamental freedoms are fully respected.
Those ideas were later on reflected in the UN Charter, the Helsinki
Final Act and the main documents of the international law, empowering
the people to promote and protect their rights and to freely pursue
their own future. The exercise of these rights gave birth to many
present day states through the right of peoples to self-determination.
It is based on these understanding that Armenia, along with other
participating states, has contributed to the efforts to launch Helsinki
+ 40 process. We believe that in the year of 40th anniversary of
the conclusion of the Helsinki Final Act the reaffirmation of our
adherence to its principles will give a new impetus to the OSCE and
its endeavors.
Mr. Chairman,
The effectiveness of our Organization to a great extent depends on
the ability to timely and effectively assess and diligently address
evolving challenges in all three dimensions.
Arms control, confidence and security building measures should
prominently figure on our agenda. Even under prevailing circumstances
we need to seize every opportunity to prevent further erosion of
the existing regimes and work hard to find new solutions through
creative approaches.
We welcome the initiative of the Swiss Chairmanship to address the
issue of foreign terrorist fighters. The massive and gross human
rights violations perpetrated by such groups as ISIL and ANF, which
capitalize on the flow of foreign terrorists, constitute a serious
threat not only for the OSCE neighborhood, including our Mediterranean
partners, but to the OSCE region as well.
Mr. Chairman,
This year marks the 20th anniversary of the cease-fire agreement,
reached by Nagorno-Karabakh, Azerbaijan and Armenia. Azerbaijan did
everything to undermine the ceasefire regime, despite the calls of
the international community to reinforce the cease-fire agreement
of May 1994 and fully implement cease-fire consolidation agreement
of February 1995. Military actions of the Azrebaijani side along the
line of contact and on the Armenia Azerbijani border, resulted in a
significant loss of live and drastically raised tensions on the ground.
During last years our diplomacy, together with the three Co-chair
countries of the OSCE Minsk Group, the only internationally agreed
mediation format, has spared no efforts to achieve a peaceful
settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh problem. Despite the intensive
efforts of the three Co-Chair countries during the last 6 years: about
20 summits, several dozens of meetings on ministerial level, visits of
the three Co-Chairs to the region, it has been impossible to reach a
breakthrough in the conflict resolution, because the Azerbaijani side
rejected one after another all proposals presented by the mediators.
In Armenia we continue to believe that the elements outlined in the 5
statements of the heads of the Co-Chair countries on Nagorno-Karabakh
can be the basis for reaching a fair and lasting settlement of the
conflict. We share the position of the Co-Chair countries, that those
elements should be seen as an integrated whole and that any attempt to
select some elements over others would make it impossible to achieve
a balanced solution.
Unlike Azerbaijan, Armenia has on several occasions reiterated and
in response to the appeals of the Presidents of Russia, the United
States and France, once again re-affirmed its commitment to the
principles of international law, particularly the non-use of force or
the threat of force, equal rights and self-determination of peoples,
and territorial integrity.
Azerbaijan is pretending that the international community shares
its approaches and it shares the approaches of the international
community, even pretended that it is ready to start the work on
drafting peace agreement, while Baku failing to agree on the main
principles of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. In reality, Azerbaijan is
continuously rejecting all proposals of the i Co-Chair countries. Baku
rejected all versions of the Basic Principles of the settlement of
the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict proposed by the Co-Chairs of the Minsk
Group, including last versions presented at the Kazan (June 2011),
Sochi (March 2011), Astrakhan (October 2011) and Saint Petersburg
(June 2010) summits.
Baku rejected not only the Basic Principles, but also
confidence-building measures proposed by the Co-Chairs on consolidation
of ceasefire and the establishment of a mechanism for investigation
of the ceasefire violations, taking entire responsibility for its An
Armenian villager who had mistakenly wandered into the territory of
Azerbaijan was arrested, humiliated in front of cameras, a tactic
used by notorious terrorist organizations, and was found dead the
following day.
The more the international community, through the OSCE Minsk Group
co-chairs appeals to the sides of the conflict to prepare populations
for peace and not war, the more we hear from Azerbaijan, including
in the top level, increasing bellicose warmongering, anti-Armenian
hate-speech, glorification of murderers of Armenians and persecution
of those journalists, civil society activists, representatives of
intelligentsia, who pursue confidence building and reconciliation
projects, presenting them as “Armenian spies”. The more the
international community is calling on the sides to withdraw snipers
from the line of contact, the more sniper shootings, provocative
incidents, subversive acts are coming from the Azerbaijani side,
resulting in numerous casualties.
The more oil revenues are enriching the Azerbaijani budget, the more
weaponry and armament are purchased by Baku. In 2015 Azerbaijan’s
military budget will reach 4,8 bln USD, almost 30 times increase in
a decade since Ilham Aliyev inherited the power from his father. The
absolutely disproportionate military spending and acquisition of
excess armaments by Azerbaijan poses a serious threat to regional
and international stability and security.
Such a militaristic posture is fuelled up by anti-Armenian propaganda
and xenophobia.
Year after year Armenia has been raising its concerns from this podium
over the militaristic rhetoric, blatant violation of international
commitments and anti-Armenian hysteria and hatred being injected into
the Azerbaijani society from the highest levels of its leadership.
Many international organizations on human rights alerted about
flagrant cases of racism, intolerance and violations of human rights
in Azerbaijan, alerted on the policy of hatred against Armenians.
The European Commission against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI) in
its report on Azerbaijan noted with deep concern the “constant and
negative official and media discourse concerning the Republic of
Armenia” and recommended the Azerbaijani authorities to “adopt an
appropriate response to all cases of discrimination and hate speech
against Armenians”. What is the Azerbaijani response? Baku is trying
to impose its own distorted perception of human rights on others,
organizes fake conferences on tolerance and freedoms.
Responsive nature of our organization entails proper assessment and
adequate reaction to this behavior.
It is clear that international community should not tolerate the
attempts of the Azerbaijani leadership to adjust the international
law to their own racist ideology. Having a rich internal experience in
corruption Baku is attempting to transfer it to interstate relations
exploiting it as a tool to impose its own misperceptions on others.
The international community could not tolerate the attempts of
Azerbaijan to replace the rule of law with the rule of oil.
In the last August, September and October, the Co-Chair countries,
first the President of Russia in Sochi, then the Secretary of State
of the USA in Newport, and then the President of France in Paris,
with participation of the Heads of States of Armenia and Azerbaijan,
organized Summit meetings to reduce the tensions and prevent further
escalation of the situation.
Immediately after the Paris meeting the leadership of Azerbaijan
raised another wave of anti-Armenian provocative rhetoric, and the
Defense Minister of that country claimed again that his country would
solve the Nagorno-Karabakh issue through military means.
The recent shooting down by the Azerbaijani armed forces of the
helicopter of the Nagorno-Karabakh Defense Army during a training
flight, which took the lives of three young servicemen, is Baku’s
latest criminal provocation. The Azerbaijani army for almost ten days
continuously kept the area of the helicopter shooting under intensive
fire, hindering rescue teams, the OSCE, International Committee of
the Red Cross representatives to approach that site and evacuate the
bodies of killed crew members, which became another gross violation
of international humanitarian law by Azerbaijan.
Baku continues to oppose itself to the international community, which
was once again demonstrated by its reaction to the statement of the
OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs on the helicopter shooting. Azerbaijan is
clearly losing the sense of reality and day by day is deepening the
gap between itself and the civilized world.
To achieve a durable peace, stability and security in the region,
Armenia will continue to invest its utmost efforts towards the
settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict exclusively through
peaceful means and on the basis of the purposes, principles and norms
reflected in the UN Charter, Helsinki Final Act and the provisions
of the statements of the Minsk Group Co-Chair Countries’ Presidents
in L’Aquila, Muskoka, Deauville, Los Cabos and Enniskillen.
Mr. Chairman,
To conclude, I would like to express Armenia’s readiness to support
the incoming Serbian Chairmanship in the implementation of its agenda.
From: A. Papazian
http://www.armradio.am/en/2014/12/05/armenian-fm-addresses-osce-ministerial-council-refers-to-genocide-centennial-karabakh-conflict/