|
Question: How does Armenia assess yesterday's initiative
by GUAM, and the vote that followed, to place protracted conflicts
on the agenda of the UN General Assembly?
Answer: Armenia accepts and respects the right of each country
to present a question or an agenda item at the UN. Although this
particular item has reached the General Assembly Agenda according
to UN procedures, however the fact that the UN General Committee
rejected this initiative and that the item passed into the General
Assembly with a mere 16 in favor, 15 against, clearly indicates
the mood of the international community.
The initiative has been presented by GUAM, of which Azerbaijan
is a part. The fact that Azerbaijan has presented such an initiative
in such a forum is evidence again that Azerbaijan is backing down
from the right of self-determination identified in the last version
of the negotiating document that the Co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk
Group have put on the table, as well as from discussions surrounding
the right of Nagorno Karabakh to determine its status through a
referendum.
On the other hand, if Azerbaijan's purpose is to delay and postpone
the settlement process within the OSCE framework with the intention
of later transferring that process to other forums, that is categorically
unacceptable for Armenia. In that case, Azerbaijan must sit around
the negotiating table with Nagorno Karabakh.
|