ArmInfo. Artsakh President Arayik Harutyunyan once again stated that the blocking of the internationally recognized Lachin (Kashatagh) corridor, which is in the zone of responsibility of the Russian peacekeeping forces, and the establishment of a checkpoint there, is absolutely unacceptable.
He recalled that this assessment was given on April 23 following the meeting of the NKR Security Council. "By this step of Azerbaijan, the people of Artsakh have finally become a hostage in Azerbaijani hands, and this happens against the backdrop of increasing risks of ethnic cleansing. Moreover, with this step, Baku has seriously threatened the further validity of the Tripartite Declaration of November 9, 2020. We also appealed to the parties to the Tripartite Declaration, and especially to the Russian Federation to start immediate discussions with a view to deblocking Artsakh and liquidating the Azerbaijani checkpoint, as well as providing real security guarantees to the people of Artsakh. We continue to expect effective steps to address the security and humanitarian problems facing the people of Artsakh," Harutyunyan noted in an interview with the Artsakh media.
At the same time, he called unacceptable and regrettable the fact that Azerbaijan not only grossly violates the provisions of the Tripartite Declaration, but also does not comply with the mandatory decisions of the International Court of Justice and the European Court of Human Rights.
"Therefore, our reasonable expectation from all responsible actors of the international community is to exert appropriate pressure on Azerbaijan for the immediate and full implementation of the abovementioned obligations," the head of Artsakh said.
Referring to the attacks of the President of Azerbaijan against the people of Artsakh, with the intention of allegedly "reintegrating" them and allegations that the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict has been resolved, Harutyunyan noted that today much more in demand and desirable is the integration of the political leadership of Azerbaijan into the civilized world, political culture, human rights and the system of democratic values. He expressed confidence that this step would resolve many issues in Azerbaijan's relations with neighboring states.
"As for the Azerbaijani-Artsakh conflict, for the third year the President of Azerbaijan has been trying to convince the world that the Nagorno-Karabakh issue has been resolved and that the concept of "Nagorno- Karabakh" no longer exists. However, the problem is that he does not have the agreement of the general international community for all these claims. The issue of the status of Nagorno-Karabakh remains unresolved at the international level, and this should be taken into account," said the leader of Artsakh.
At the same time, Harutyunyan advised at times to look for answers to questions in the history of the conflict. In this vein, he recalled that after the collapse of the Soviet Union, the former Armenian SSR, the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Region (NKAR) and the Azerbaijan SSR simultaneously declared their independence in accordance with international law and the legislation of the USSR.
"The self-determined Nagorno-Karabakh did not participate in the formation of the constitution of the Republic of Azerbaijan. However, the newly formed Republic of Azerbaijan presented unfounded claims to Nagorno-Karabakh. At the same time, the international community from the very beginning recorded the fact of disagreements on the status of Nagorno-Karabakh," he said, pointing to an extremely important circumstance in this connection.
He drew attention to the fact that on January 30, 1992, Azerbaijan, being recognized by only a few states, joined the CSCE on the same day as Armenia. Moreover, according to him, the sovereignty of these states was recognized by the CSCE on the condition that they, in turn, r accept the fact of disagreement regarding their aspirations for Nagorno-Karabakh and agree that the issue of the future status of Nagorno-Karabakh will be decided during a peace conference, to be held under the auspices of the CSCE.
Harutyunyan drew attention to the fact that both Armenia and Azerbaijan agreed with a similar formulation of the issue, thereby accepting the international status of Nagorno-Karabakh as a disputed territory and undertaking to resolve the issue peacefully. However, he continued, after joining the CSCE, Azerbaijan immediately violated its international obligations, by large-scale military aggression against Nagorno- Karabakh and lost in it. " The Republic of Artsakh (NKR) was established de facto as a result of the victory achieved in the first Karabakh war of 1992-94. The line of contact between the armed forces of the NKR and Azerbaijan received international recognition. Harutyunyan drew attention to the fact that until now there are no agreements in international negotiations regarding the status of NKR and the demarcation line between NKR and Azerbaijan.
"There are no agreements on the status in the tripartite declaration of November 9, 2020, which means that Nagorno-Karabakh still has the international status of a contested or disputed territory, but never a part of Azerbaijan," Harutyunyan said.
He also drew attention to the fact that Azerbaijan officially renounced the succession of Soviet Azerbaijan and declared itself the successor of the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic of 1918-1920.
"And here, in that pre-Soviet period, Nagorno Karabakh was considered a disputed territory at the international level, officially recognized by the League of Nations (while Azerbaijan was not even recognized as a state by the League of Nations - ed. note).It is also noteworthy that at that time Nagorno- Karabakh had much wider borders, and in the first years of its existence as part of the USSR, it even had a common border with the Armenian SSR. From these facts, a very important question arises as to whether the fact of the disputed status and territories of Nagorno-Karabakh was not recognized by the fundamental documents proclaiming the independence of Azerbaijan," Harutyunyan asked.