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The Diplomatic Insight
May 31, 2014 Saturday
Nagorno-Karabakh Conflict Human Rights Perspective
by Muhammad Asif Noor
Vol. 7 No. 5
Bitterly we paid for this maturity, bitter was the price for crushing
our great trust, a crushing which reminds us of 9 January 1905. We,
first the people of Karabakh, then the people of Armenia, marched to
the winter palace, to the Lenin square in Stepanakert, and to the
theater square in Yerevan, convinced that the central power would
understand us. We marched with words of trust in the land of
socialism, in the Russian people, in Perestroika, with portraits of
the secretary general of the party, M.S. Gorbachev. But against us
fire was opened.
The fire was the unjust solutions of the Politburo and the Supreme
Soviet, lies created with the help of mass information, a blackening
propaganda which witnessed of badly concealed benevolence to the
Azerbaijani side.
The fire was Sumgait.' Silva Kaputikian, 1988. he Nagorno-Karabakh
conflict in the Caucasian region is simmering for decades now with
worst human rights atrocities by Armenian occupied forces since the
time of inception of this conflict. Various reports of international
nature have pointed out the war crimes of Armenia in the region
including grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions which means holding
hostage; and killings of war prisoners. The resulting displacement of
the people, who have fled to save their lives became refugees in the
region, they are also posing as a threat to the political and
strategic environment.
They are facing worst kinds of human rights sufferings that one can
imagine. According to one census report, around 250,000 Azeri refugees
took solace in Azerbaijan due to fear of ethnic cleansing and killings
at the time of ceasefire in 1994. In the context of the contemporary
regional and international political environment where human security
is the first priority of many nation states, such kind of inhumane
treatment and conditions are not acceptable to any international law
providing security to humans who are suffering and facing the brunt of
conflicts and violence.
Policy of genocide used by Armenian forces during the period of 1988
till 1989 has killed thousands of innocent people, they were either
deported from their places of permanent resident or being subjected to
worst kind of human rights violations. The conflict needs a just and
righteous solution and people who are suffering looking towards the
party of the conflict and also towards international community for
support.
The history of the conflict dates back to the times of Russian Empire
stretching its boarders around the region, for its ever increasing
access of Russian access to the shores of Persian Gulf. Russian began
exploiting the Armenian factor as early as eighteenth century. It is
also believed that the conflict is rooted in expansionism and a policy
of aggression aimed at expanding the territory of Armenia by force at
the expense of the territory of another sovereign state.
The policy of aggression continued to build up resulting in the
violations of territorial integrity of Azerbaijan region. The
hostilities of Armenia began to mount till the end of 1991 and in
early 1992, the massacre of Khojaly, by Armenian forces in February
1992, caused the conflict to flare up into a war. More than 800
peaceful residents, including women and children, were slaughtered,
raising voices and concern in the international community. Human
Rights Watch called this as " the largest massacre of the conflict".
Only crime of the residents of this beautiful town was that they were
Azerbaijanis and nothing else. Thousands of people of Khojaly have
been mercilessly killed or taken into hostage The Armenian aggression
spread far beyond the administrative boundaries of the region to the
rest of Azerbaijan.
Between May 1992 and May 1994, six districts of Azerbaijan were
occupied. This makes 20 per cent of the territory of Azerbaijan which
has been annexed while, according to a report, almost 700 populated
centers were destroyed. Number of refugees and displaced population is
over 1 million. The conflict further escalated after the independence
of Azerbaijan and Armenia. By the end of 1993, the conflict has caused
thousands of casualties and refugees. Finally a ceasefire was reached
in May 1994 through Russian negotiations.
After the cease fire in May 1994 till this day, Azerbaijan has taken a
just stand for the resolution of peaceful dispute of the conflict
while keeping in focus the plight of the suffering humanity. One of
the major factor in the resolution of the conflict is to have a safe
return of the refugees by creating " buffer zones' once the occupied
territory would be returned. According to reports, houses, fields of
Azeris, who have fled their land and took refuge, have been burnt or
mined by the Armenians.
In this circumstance return of the refugees would have a potential to
lead a desire for revenge among civilians. If there would be a
backlash on these people then that would create further more problem.
So before returning, there is a need for creation of safe zones. Now
here one scholar suggest that question of giving guarantees will be a
crucial one given the distrust that both the ethnic identities have on
each other.
In the words of Baibourtian, 'Armenia has been given guarantees before
[referring to the time of the First World War primarily]; any nation
which has suffered a Genocide needs to be careful'.
There were various initiatives put forward by the international and
regional powers for a peaceful and just solution of Nagorno-Karabakh.
One is creating of Minsk group which was initiated Organization for
Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) to encourage a peaceful,
negotiated resolution to the conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia
over Nagorno-Karabakh established in 1992.
The main objectives of the Minsk Process are as follows: Providing an
appropriate framework for conflict resolution in the way of assuring
the negotiation process supported by the Minsk Group; Obtaining
conclusion by the Parties of an agreement on the cessation of the
armed conflict in order to permit the convening of the Minsk
Conference; Promoting the peace process by deploying OSCE
multinational peacekeeping forces. The Minsk Group is headed by a
co-chairmanship consisting of France, Russia and the United States.
Furthermore, the Minsk Group also includes the following participating
states: Belarus, Germany, Italy, Portugal, the Netherlands, Sweden,
Finland, Turkey as well as Armenia and Azerbaijan. Azerbaijan has
distrust on the Minsk group, co-chaired by Russia, France and US.
Reason being is that there is large number of Armenian community
living in these state and has put considerable pressure for derailing
of the peace process. If that was not enough, another reason put
forward by the Azerbaijani side is that the group does not put enough
pressure on Armenia to return Nagorno-Karabakh territory to
Azerbaijan, and of prolonging the negotiations indefinitely.
The peace process initiated by the Minsk group has an unfortunate
status as it has given a very little progress, till yet, moved few
steps in the direction of peace. Armenians are not willing to withdraw
troops from Azeri territories until Nagorno-Karabakh is recognized as
independent; Azerbaijan insists on its complete territorial integrity
and demands the withdrawal of Armenian troops before it will discuss
any other matters, including the eventual status of Nagorno-Karabakh.
The locking of positions of both states has made a stalemate and lead
of continue suffering of humanity of the region. President of
Azerbaijan while once talking to media commented on the status of this
dispute said "The most important problem of the Azerbaijani people and
the state remains the aggression of Armenia against Azerbaijan, which
marked the beginning of the Karabakh conflict.
This conflict is still unresolved. The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is
the greatest threat to peace and stability in the region" He further
added that the OSCE, Council of Europe, the European Parliament, the
OIC and other international organizations have adopted documents,
which expressed support for the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan.
But Armenia ignores the opinions of these organizations.
For many years engaged in the settlement of the conflict the OSCE
Minsk Group. With the mediation role of the countries like U.S.,
Russia and France where the group has organized various meeting of the
presidents of Azerbaijan and Armenia, the solution is not in sight. It
is also very important to note here that because of the destructive
position of Armenia, the conflict remains unresolved.
Most foreign actors have also positioned themselves between these
extreme viewpoints, like for example, role of Russia, United States,
France, Turkey and Iran has resulted into furthering complexity of the
problem. The solution of this problem is based on the fact
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict can be resolved by peaceful means, based on
international law and within the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan.
From: A. Papazian
May 31, 2014 Saturday
Nagorno-Karabakh Conflict Human Rights Perspective
by Muhammad Asif Noor
Vol. 7 No. 5
Bitterly we paid for this maturity, bitter was the price for crushing
our great trust, a crushing which reminds us of 9 January 1905. We,
first the people of Karabakh, then the people of Armenia, marched to
the winter palace, to the Lenin square in Stepanakert, and to the
theater square in Yerevan, convinced that the central power would
understand us. We marched with words of trust in the land of
socialism, in the Russian people, in Perestroika, with portraits of
the secretary general of the party, M.S. Gorbachev. But against us
fire was opened.
The fire was the unjust solutions of the Politburo and the Supreme
Soviet, lies created with the help of mass information, a blackening
propaganda which witnessed of badly concealed benevolence to the
Azerbaijani side.
The fire was Sumgait.' Silva Kaputikian, 1988. he Nagorno-Karabakh
conflict in the Caucasian region is simmering for decades now with
worst human rights atrocities by Armenian occupied forces since the
time of inception of this conflict. Various reports of international
nature have pointed out the war crimes of Armenia in the region
including grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions which means holding
hostage; and killings of war prisoners. The resulting displacement of
the people, who have fled to save their lives became refugees in the
region, they are also posing as a threat to the political and
strategic environment.
They are facing worst kinds of human rights sufferings that one can
imagine. According to one census report, around 250,000 Azeri refugees
took solace in Azerbaijan due to fear of ethnic cleansing and killings
at the time of ceasefire in 1994. In the context of the contemporary
regional and international political environment where human security
is the first priority of many nation states, such kind of inhumane
treatment and conditions are not acceptable to any international law
providing security to humans who are suffering and facing the brunt of
conflicts and violence.
Policy of genocide used by Armenian forces during the period of 1988
till 1989 has killed thousands of innocent people, they were either
deported from their places of permanent resident or being subjected to
worst kind of human rights violations. The conflict needs a just and
righteous solution and people who are suffering looking towards the
party of the conflict and also towards international community for
support.
The history of the conflict dates back to the times of Russian Empire
stretching its boarders around the region, for its ever increasing
access of Russian access to the shores of Persian Gulf. Russian began
exploiting the Armenian factor as early as eighteenth century. It is
also believed that the conflict is rooted in expansionism and a policy
of aggression aimed at expanding the territory of Armenia by force at
the expense of the territory of another sovereign state.
The policy of aggression continued to build up resulting in the
violations of territorial integrity of Azerbaijan region. The
hostilities of Armenia began to mount till the end of 1991 and in
early 1992, the massacre of Khojaly, by Armenian forces in February
1992, caused the conflict to flare up into a war. More than 800
peaceful residents, including women and children, were slaughtered,
raising voices and concern in the international community. Human
Rights Watch called this as " the largest massacre of the conflict".
Only crime of the residents of this beautiful town was that they were
Azerbaijanis and nothing else. Thousands of people of Khojaly have
been mercilessly killed or taken into hostage The Armenian aggression
spread far beyond the administrative boundaries of the region to the
rest of Azerbaijan.
Between May 1992 and May 1994, six districts of Azerbaijan were
occupied. This makes 20 per cent of the territory of Azerbaijan which
has been annexed while, according to a report, almost 700 populated
centers were destroyed. Number of refugees and displaced population is
over 1 million. The conflict further escalated after the independence
of Azerbaijan and Armenia. By the end of 1993, the conflict has caused
thousands of casualties and refugees. Finally a ceasefire was reached
in May 1994 through Russian negotiations.
After the cease fire in May 1994 till this day, Azerbaijan has taken a
just stand for the resolution of peaceful dispute of the conflict
while keeping in focus the plight of the suffering humanity. One of
the major factor in the resolution of the conflict is to have a safe
return of the refugees by creating " buffer zones' once the occupied
territory would be returned. According to reports, houses, fields of
Azeris, who have fled their land and took refuge, have been burnt or
mined by the Armenians.
In this circumstance return of the refugees would have a potential to
lead a desire for revenge among civilians. If there would be a
backlash on these people then that would create further more problem.
So before returning, there is a need for creation of safe zones. Now
here one scholar suggest that question of giving guarantees will be a
crucial one given the distrust that both the ethnic identities have on
each other.
In the words of Baibourtian, 'Armenia has been given guarantees before
[referring to the time of the First World War primarily]; any nation
which has suffered a Genocide needs to be careful'.
There were various initiatives put forward by the international and
regional powers for a peaceful and just solution of Nagorno-Karabakh.
One is creating of Minsk group which was initiated Organization for
Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) to encourage a peaceful,
negotiated resolution to the conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia
over Nagorno-Karabakh established in 1992.
The main objectives of the Minsk Process are as follows: Providing an
appropriate framework for conflict resolution in the way of assuring
the negotiation process supported by the Minsk Group; Obtaining
conclusion by the Parties of an agreement on the cessation of the
armed conflict in order to permit the convening of the Minsk
Conference; Promoting the peace process by deploying OSCE
multinational peacekeeping forces. The Minsk Group is headed by a
co-chairmanship consisting of France, Russia and the United States.
Furthermore, the Minsk Group also includes the following participating
states: Belarus, Germany, Italy, Portugal, the Netherlands, Sweden,
Finland, Turkey as well as Armenia and Azerbaijan. Azerbaijan has
distrust on the Minsk group, co-chaired by Russia, France and US.
Reason being is that there is large number of Armenian community
living in these state and has put considerable pressure for derailing
of the peace process. If that was not enough, another reason put
forward by the Azerbaijani side is that the group does not put enough
pressure on Armenia to return Nagorno-Karabakh territory to
Azerbaijan, and of prolonging the negotiations indefinitely.
The peace process initiated by the Minsk group has an unfortunate
status as it has given a very little progress, till yet, moved few
steps in the direction of peace. Armenians are not willing to withdraw
troops from Azeri territories until Nagorno-Karabakh is recognized as
independent; Azerbaijan insists on its complete territorial integrity
and demands the withdrawal of Armenian troops before it will discuss
any other matters, including the eventual status of Nagorno-Karabakh.
The locking of positions of both states has made a stalemate and lead
of continue suffering of humanity of the region. President of
Azerbaijan while once talking to media commented on the status of this
dispute said "The most important problem of the Azerbaijani people and
the state remains the aggression of Armenia against Azerbaijan, which
marked the beginning of the Karabakh conflict.
This conflict is still unresolved. The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is
the greatest threat to peace and stability in the region" He further
added that the OSCE, Council of Europe, the European Parliament, the
OIC and other international organizations have adopted documents,
which expressed support for the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan.
But Armenia ignores the opinions of these organizations.
For many years engaged in the settlement of the conflict the OSCE
Minsk Group. With the mediation role of the countries like U.S.,
Russia and France where the group has organized various meeting of the
presidents of Azerbaijan and Armenia, the solution is not in sight. It
is also very important to note here that because of the destructive
position of Armenia, the conflict remains unresolved.
Most foreign actors have also positioned themselves between these
extreme viewpoints, like for example, role of Russia, United States,
France, Turkey and Iran has resulted into furthering complexity of the
problem. The solution of this problem is based on the fact
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict can be resolved by peaceful means, based on
international law and within the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan.
From: A. Papazian