Stepanakert on recognition of Abkhazia and South Ossetia by Syria:  The third stage of international recognition of states is launched

ArmInfo. The third stage of international recognition of states is launched. The press secretary of Artsakh President David Babayan stated in a conversation with the  correspondent of ArmInfo, touching upon Syria's recognition of Abkhazia and South Ossetia.

According to him, the process of recognizing states must be viewed in  two dimensions: geopolitical and legal. He stated that each state  decides for itself what is more important for - the legal side of the  issue or geopolitical.

According to Babayan, if study history, at the present stage,  somewhere from the beginning of the 20th century, the international  policy of restricting the recognition of this or that state begun.  However, according to him, after the First and Second World Wars, the  first stage of recognition of states, in particular the former  colonies of superpowers, began and this was presented as an important  moral step, but in reality it was just geopolitics. The second stage  was launched when the issue of recognition of the former Soviet  Republics, as well as Yugoslavia, arose. "And we still said that  there would definitely be a third stage of international recognition  of states, although many Armenian experts and politicians were  skeptical about this, but as we can see, the process is launched. The  first sign was the recognition of the independence of Eritrea, no  less important example - the recognition by the Western countries of  Kosovo, and the legal argument of the UK, a new stage is launched,  since the right of nations to self-determination can not be limited.  Another evidence of this is the recognition of South Ossetia and  Abkhazia", Babayan said.

Answering the question whether this could become a precedent for the  international recognition of Artsakh, Babayan stressed that the  process of recognition of Artsakh Republic is a multi-stage process.  "And this process has already been launched, Artsakh has already  recognized a large number of territorial units and I am sure that  sooner or later the process of recognizing the republic at the state  level will begin," he concluded.

On May 29, the Foreign Ministries of Abkhazia and South Ossetia  reported that Syria recognized the independence of the two republics.  After that, Georgia began the procedure for severing diplomatic  relations with Syria. Meanwhile, the US State Department called this  step of Damascus unreasonable. A number of Western countries also  criticized these actions of Syria.