Edward Nalbandian: Impunity will encourage Baku to continue its destructive policy 

ArmInfo. On September 28, Edward Nalbandian, the Acting Foreign Minister of Armenia, delivered a lecture entitled "Nagorno-Karabakh: Is Solution Visible" at Stanford University's Institute for International Studies.

The minister briefly presented the history of the conflict and the current stage of the Karabakh peace process. 

The press office of the Armenian Foreign Ministry quotes Nalbandian as saying: "This April Azerbaijan unleashed a large scale preplanned aggression against Nagorno-Karabakh, with the use of offensive weaponry - aviation, heavy artillery, rocket systems, tanks - accompanied by gross violations of international humanitarian law, such as indiscriminate shelling of civilian areas, DEASH-style mutilation of bodies and beheadings. It goes without saying that these actions that resulted in hundreds of casualties from all sides, have seriously undermined the negotiation process."

"The Presidents of the Co-Chair countries of the OSCE Minsk Group have proclaimed a rather civilized formula for the settlement - ballots instead of bullets. The proposal stipulates determination of the final legal status of Nagorno-Karabakh through a legally binding expression of will of the population of Nagorno-Karabakh. The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is not resolved yet, since one of the negotiating parties, namely Azerbaijan is not ready to go along with this proposal and by all means strives to undermine the peace process. The mentality that supports medieval barbarism, demonstrated again in April, can hardly accept the civilized approaches of the modern world," he stressed. Nalbandian added that the leadership of Azerbaijan adopted a xenophobic, aggressive anti-Armenian stance. "All those civil society representatives who have been engaged in people to people contacts with the civil societies in Nagorno- Karabakh and Armenia were put behind the bars as "Armenian spies," he said.

"If there are any proven remedies for conflict settlements then the preparation of the public for peace and not war should stand in the center. This is what the Co-Chairs are continuously urging. Building trust and confidence is another important dimension again strongly encouraged by the international mediators, especially after the April escalation. To restore the trust in the process of the conflict resolution, measures should be taken to prevent use of force and create conditions conducive to the advancement of the peace process. This was the main aim of the two Summits on Nagorno-Karabakh held in Vienna in May organized by the U.S. Secretary of State and in St. Petersburg in June hosted by the Russian President. First of all, it is a necessity to implement what was particularly emphasized and agreed upon in the framework of these Summits - the full adherence to the 1994-1995 trilateral ceasefire agreements, the creation of mechanism for investigation of ceasefire violations, which can serve also as a mechanism for prevention, the expansion of the capacity of the Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office, which monitors the ceasefire," Nalbandian stressed.

"These proposals are not new, they have been reiterated by the Co-Chairs many times, Nagorno-Karabakh and Armenia have accepted them, Azerbaijan rejected. It is interesting to note that House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Ed Royce and Ranking Member Eliot Engel together with more than 80 other Congressmen have endorsed these and some other confidence building measures. They urged to publicly condemn specific acts of aggression along the line of contact. Indeed, the party which violates the ceasefire, which rejects the confidence building measure, which refuses the proposals of the mediators should stand accountable. Otherwise impunity will encourage Baku to continue destructive policy. Baku criticizes the Co-Chairs, including the United States for islamophobia, and conspiracy against Azerbaijan, calling the mediators useless tourists," he said, adding that Nagorno-Karabakh people have been aspiring for liberty to freely organize their life in a democratic manner, based on the principle of self-determination.