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Armenia did not betray Ukraine, says ambassador
15:20 * 05.04.14
Armenia's negative vote on the UN resolution declaring the Crimea
referendum invalid is not a sign of betrayal, the Armenian ambassador
to Ukraine has said, commenting on the UN General Assembly's March 27
vote.
In an interview with the Ukrainian website Segodnya.ua, Andranik
Manukyan explained Armenia's choice by national interests and foreign
policy context.
"Armenia has always voted 'for' the self-determination of nations. We
have the problem of Nagorno-Karabakh, which conducted an independence
referendum on December 10, 1991. Ninety nine percent of the
participants voted in favor of independence then. Now that 23 years
have passed ever since, Armenia is still trying to prove the
decision's legitimacy to the world, because under the UN Charter, the
nations' right to self-determination is a goal, not a principle, of
international law," he said.
The diplomat dismissed all the allegations that Armenia's vote implies
a negative attitude to Ukraine
"Ukraine has more than once backed the Azerbaijani position in votes
on Nagorno-Karabakh. In 2008, when the United Nations was debating the
Baku-proposed resolution on Karabakh, Ukraine voted for the measure.
But we never sent a protest note to Ukraine's Foreign Ministry," added
the ambassador.
Asked whether the vote has in any way deteriorated the
Ukrainian-Armenian relations, Manukyan said he hasn't observed
anything of the kind at all.
"People not familiar with the history of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict
may not, of course, treat the UN voting the right way. Several
Ukrainian mass media have launched an anti-Armenian propaganda,
unfortunately. Our president, Serzh Sargsyan, has declared the
Ukrainians our brothers. We have a shared history. There are about
600,000 Armenians residing in Ukraine. Now that I meet with
representatives of our community every day, I hear all the time that
'the Ukrainians are our brothers' and 'we back Ukraine'," he added.
http://www.tert.am/en/news/2014/04/05/andranik-manukyan-interview/
15:20 * 05.04.14
Armenia's negative vote on the UN resolution declaring the Crimea
referendum invalid is not a sign of betrayal, the Armenian ambassador
to Ukraine has said, commenting on the UN General Assembly's March 27
vote.
In an interview with the Ukrainian website Segodnya.ua, Andranik
Manukyan explained Armenia's choice by national interests and foreign
policy context.
"Armenia has always voted 'for' the self-determination of nations. We
have the problem of Nagorno-Karabakh, which conducted an independence
referendum on December 10, 1991. Ninety nine percent of the
participants voted in favor of independence then. Now that 23 years
have passed ever since, Armenia is still trying to prove the
decision's legitimacy to the world, because under the UN Charter, the
nations' right to self-determination is a goal, not a principle, of
international law," he said.
The diplomat dismissed all the allegations that Armenia's vote implies
a negative attitude to Ukraine
"Ukraine has more than once backed the Azerbaijani position in votes
on Nagorno-Karabakh. In 2008, when the United Nations was debating the
Baku-proposed resolution on Karabakh, Ukraine voted for the measure.
But we never sent a protest note to Ukraine's Foreign Ministry," added
the ambassador.
Asked whether the vote has in any way deteriorated the
Ukrainian-Armenian relations, Manukyan said he hasn't observed
anything of the kind at all.
"People not familiar with the history of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict
may not, of course, treat the UN voting the right way. Several
Ukrainian mass media have launched an anti-Armenian propaganda,
unfortunately. Our president, Serzh Sargsyan, has declared the
Ukrainians our brothers. We have a shared history. There are about
600,000 Armenians residing in Ukraine. Now that I meet with
representatives of our community every day, I hear all the time that
'the Ukrainians are our brothers' and 'we back Ukraine'," he added.
http://www.tert.am/en/news/2014/04/05/andranik-manukyan-interview/