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Protocols can be manipulated; Turkey & Azerbaijan trying to do that

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  • Protocols can be manipulated; Turkey & Azerbaijan trying to do that

    If desired, protocols can be manipulated; it's what Turkey and
    Azerbaijan are trying to do

    Azerbaijan will never be allowed to regulate the Karabakh conflict at
    its discretion, nor will Turkey be allowed any interference in the
    none-of-its-business affairs.
    04.12.2009 GMT+04:00

    It has already become a tradition: every year the process of Karabakh
    conflict settlement is completed in the same way - at the annual
    summit, the OSCE Ministerial Council issues a statement which almost
    repeats the previous one with the mandatory confirmation of the
    necessity to continue the process of finding a peaceful solution based
    on Madrid principles. However, this year the usual course of
    negotiations was somehow disturbed by the signing of the
    Armenian-Turkish Protocols.

    /PanARMENIAN.Net/ Nevertheless, the Protocols can hardly seriously
    affect the resolution of the Karabakh conflict, which, as once again
    stressed by Foreign Ministers of the co-chair countries, should be
    based on the provisions of the Helsinki Final Act of 1975, which
    clearly states all the three principles of conflict regulation: the
    principle of Non-Use of Force or Threat of Force, Territorial
    Integrity, and the Self-Determination of Peoples. On the other hand,
    if desired, the protocols can be manipulated and it's exactly what
    Turkey and Azerbaijan are trying to do, somehow forgetting that the
    world powers unequivocally oppose to drawing such parallels.

    Each of the sides interprets these principles in its own way. The
    principles `all are of primary significance, and, consequently, they
    will be equally and unreservedly applied in the interpretation of each
    of them, taking into account the others'. But, for some reason, this
    has been forgotten about for 15 years and disputes have been stirred
    up about which of the principles is more important...

    `The participating States will respect each other's sovereign equality
    and individuality, as well as all the rights inherent in and
    encompassed by its sovereignty, including in particular the right of
    every State to juridical equality, to territorial integrity, to
    freedom and political independence. Within the framework of
    international law, all the participating States have equal rights and
    duties. Their frontiers can be changed, in accordance with
    international law, by peaceful means and by agreement.' Unfortunately,
    Azerbaijan is guided by this principle only, having neither historical
    nor legal basis to do so. But presently it is useless to prove
    anything to Baku, and therefore we will not even try. We'll confine
    ourselves only to giving the other two principles which are equally
    important in regulating a conflict, and about which Ilham Aliyev
    unfortunately `forgets'.

    `The participating States will refrain in their mutual relations, as
    well as in their
    international relations in general, from the threat or use of force
    against the territorial integrity or political independence of any
    State, or in any other manner inconsistent with the Purposes of the
    United Nations and with the present Declaration. No consideration may
    be invoked to serve to warrant resort to the threat or use of force in
    contravention of this principle.

    Accordingly, the participating States will refrain from any acts
    constituting a threat of force or direct or indirect use of force
    against another participating State. No such threat or use of force
    will be employed as a means of settling disputes, or questions likely
    to give rise to disputes, between them. The participating States
    regard as inviolable all one another's frontiers, as well as the
    frontiers of all states in Europe and therefore they will refrain now
    and in the future from assaulting these frontiers. Accordingly, they
    will also refrain from any demand for, or act of, seizure and
    usurpation of part or all of the territory of any participating
    State.'

    Not once we've mentioned that the bellicose statements of President
    Aliyev and his entourage will eventually lead to the situation when he
    will not be taken seriously. Moreover, Azerbaijan as a minimum faces
    sanctions as a country that does not meet its obligations to the
    Council of Europe. At most, it will be excluded from the CE. And
    though it will hardly come to the latter, paraphrasing President Ilham
    Aliyev we can say that `The patience of European officials is not
    endless'.

    And finally `The participating States will respect the equal rights of
    peoples and their right to self-determination, acting at all times in
    conformity with the purposes and principles of the Charter of the
    United Nations and with the relevant norms of international law,
    including those relating to territorial integrity of States. By virtue
    of the principle of equal rights and self-determination of peoples,
    all peoples always have the right, in full freedom, to determine, when
    and as they wish, their internal and external political status,
    without external interference, and to pursue as they wish their
    political, economic, social and cultural development. The
    participating States reaffirm the universal significance of respect
    for and effective exercise of equal rights and self-determination of
    peoples for the development of friendly relations among themselves as
    among all States; they also recall the importance of the elimination
    of any form of violation of this principle.'

    Such a long campaign against illiteracy was necessary to discourage
    any encroachment on the right of the NKR people to self-determination,
    as well as to warn the Baku officials that the talks about `Armenia
    being frightened of the statements of President Aliyev' are at least
    ridiculous. Baku should also keep in mind that the zombiing of one's
    own people always ends miserably both for the leadership and for the
    people themselves. We've talked of this several times, but sometimes
    it is useful to repeat oneself...

    It is from this point of view that the statement of the OSCE made in
    Athens should be considered: Azerbaijan will not be allowed to
    regulate the Karabakh conflict at its discretion, nor will Turkey be
    allowed any interference in the none-of-its-business affairs.

    Karine Ter-Sahakyan
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