Thursday, September 8 2022 12:20

ArmInfo.Are Armenia's authorities laying the groundwork for surrendering Artsakh to  Azerbaijan? The question is far from being a rhetorical one, and  Armenian top officials' statements with no mention of peoples' right  to self-determination are evidence thereof - the right that had been  one of the fundaments of the Nagorno-Karabakh peace process for 30  years.

Instead, we can hear rather vague wordings of "measures to  ensure the ethnic Armenians' security in Nagorno-Karabakh." 

One more valid reason for such claims is a statement by ex-minister  of health, member of the dominant parliamentary faction Civil  Contract Arsen Torosyan, which claimed that no chance of recognition  of Artsakh has ever existed. 

"The status quo after the 2020 war is potentially dangerous. Do we  want to face a permanent threat of being killed or should we settle  the conflict? It requires healing the Armenian and Azerbaijani  peoples' wounds instead of fueling enmity. 

"Azerbaijan was wounded in the 1994 war, with its 25,000 victims and  600,000 refugees. Are we the only victims? Stirring up long-standing  enmity toward Azerbaijan is a trap for us. We must not stir up  enmity.  Our state failed during previous years by being incapable of  ensuring Artsakh's independence," Torosyan said. 

According to him, the idea of independence was a self-deception. 

"There has never been a chance of recognizing Artsakh's independence.  We are working to prevent a time- bomb to become solution to the  Artsakh problem," he said, without mentioning the Armenian side's  losses during the 44-day war or the losses Armenia's armed forces are  suffering during the government-declared "era of peace."

In this context, we would like to remind Mr Torosyan of Russian  President Vladimir Putin's statement on peoples' right to  self-determination. 

Speaking at a plenary session of the Eastern Economic Forum, Mr Putin  stated that the U.N. Charter mentions the right. "During the Kosovo  crisis the U.N. Court handed down a ruling allowing part of a country  to declare independence without asking for permission of the central  government. It can be applied to Kosovo. And the same is in the case  of the Donetsk and Luhansk people's republics," he said. 

In this context, we would like to remind Mr Torosyan of the joined  session of the Nagorno-Karabakh and Shahumyan Councils of People's  Deputies on September 2, 1991, which adopted a Declaration of  Independence of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic (NKR). 

The Referendum on Independence of the NKR took place on December 10,  1991, a few days before the official disintegration of the Soviet  Union. The voters' list comprised 132,328 citizens eligible to vote.   108,736 citizens, or 82.2% of the total number of the registered  voters took part in the Referendum.  108,615 people (99.89 %) voted  "for" the independence, 24 (0.02 %) voted "no" and 96 ballot papers  were considered invalid. At the following parliamentary elections the  NKR Parliament was formed, which formed the first NKR government. The  newly independent government was performing its functions amid a  total blockade and the following military aggression by Azerbaijan. 

We would also like to remind Mr Torosyan that, under the Constitution  of the Republic of Armenia, the RA assumed commitments to guarantee  the Nagorno-Karabakh population's security and is supposed to honor  them. 

In this context, instead of making allegations, Mr Torosyan, as a  member of Armenia's Parliament, should advance the interests of  Armenia and Artsakh. Fortunately, legal grounds for advancing  Artsakh's international recognition are evident - and the Russian  president's reminder could be of help.