30-08-2010 23:50:30

Sargsyan threatens fallout from UN resolution on Karabakh (UPDATED)

YEREVAN – Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan has claimed that Azerbaijan “would make a mistake” if it tables a new resolution on the Upper (Nagorno) Karabakh conflict at the United Nations.

“Azerbaijan is once again making a big mistake, and we have to use it for our ends. Obviously, we will take counter-steps that will bring us closer to our aims,” Sargsyan said Sunday on a visit to the self-proclaimed Nagorno Karabakh republic.

The draft resolution, which condemns Armenian occupation of neighboring Azerbaijan’s territories, is due to be discussed at the UN General Assembly in mid-September. The document says that the displaced Azerbaijanis driven out of Nagorno Karabakh and other occupied regions around it during the war in the early 1990s reserve the right to return home.

Sargsyan went as far as saying that the self-proclaimed republic in Nagorno Karabakh is an independent state.

“Our efforts should always be aimed at making sure that not only Azerbaijan but also other countries understand that there is no way back. Nagorno Karabakh’s returning to Azerbaijan is ruled out. Karabakh is an established state, which is strengthening and developing.”

Sargsyan said the resolution is likely to be supported at the UN by several dozen countries, primarily the states that have always stood by Azerbaijan, such as members of the Organization for Islamic Conference (OIC).

“But I am confident that all countries that are seeking a peaceful settlement of the Karabakh conflict will vote against it, as they realize that such resolutions cannot positively affect the negotiating process.”

Sargsyan believes that the UN vote, regardless of its outcome, will have no substantial impact on “the economics, security and politics” of Armenia and the self-styled republic.

According to the resolution, unilateral changes of the status and demographic composition of the territories that are in the conflict zone have no legal force and considerably hamper efforts aimed at a negotiated settlement of the long-standing conflict.

The OSCE, which is brokering the ongoing peace talks through its Minsk Group, is requested to delegate a fact-finding mission to the conflict zone to scrutinize the extent of the parties’ compliance with international humanitarian law.

Armenia’s Foreign Ministry earlier voiced its deep concern over the planned discussion of the resolution on the Karabakh conflict at the UN, claiming that Baku was thus impeding a peaceful settlement of the long-standing dispute.

Tigran Balayan, the spokesman for the Armenian Foreign Ministry, told Radio Liberty that if the resolution passes, this would allegedly be a dire blow upon international efforts to settle the Karabakh dispute. He said Armenian diplomats were working to counter passage of the document.

Yerevan also said that no international organization other than the Minsk Group should be drawn to the conflict settlement process.

Alexander Arzumanyan, an opposition leader who served as Armenia’s envoy to the UN in the 1990s, says it will be impossible to prevent the resolution on Karabakh from passing.

“According to the General Assembly by-laws, only if five countries vote for a resolution while other UN members stay neutral, the resolution passes. In such situations, most countries usually abstain.”

The UN GA passed a similar resolution on the situation in the occupied Azerbaijani territories, drafted by Baku, in March 2008. The document recognized Karabakh as an internationally recognized territory of Azerbaijan and urged a full, immediate and unconditional withdrawal of the Armenian forces, which occupy 20 percent of Azerbaijani lands, despite four UN resolutions on their unconditional pullout passed earlier. 39 countries, mostly members of the Organization for Islamic Conference (OIC), voted for the document, while seven opposed the initiative, and 100 member states abstained. The mediating states – the United States, Russia and France - were among the countries that did not back the resolution.

TAGS: Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan, Azerbaijan, “would make a mistake”, resolution, Upper Karabakh conflict, United Nations, Organization for Islamic Conference, OSCE, Minsk Group, Armenia, Foreign Ministry, dispute, General Assembly, Russia, France