Saturday, September 24 2016 15:25

ArmInfo. April aggression  severely undermined the peace process, Edward Nalbandian, Acting  Minister of foreign affairs of the Republic of Armenia mentioned in  his statement at the 71st Session of the United Nations General  Assembly General Debate. 

In his speech Edward Nalbandian recalled that this year marks the  50th anniversary of the adoption of the International Covenants on  Human Rights, as well as the 30th anniversary of the Declaration on  the Right to Development. According to the Minister these major  documents proclaim that "All peoples have the right of  self-determination. By virtue of that right they freely determine  their political status and freely pursue their economic, social and  cultural development." "It is well known that the UN Charter  underlines the respect for the principle of equal rights and  self-determination of peoples as a purpose of this organization", he  said.

Aggressive military response of the state to the peaceful aspiration  of people to exercise their right to self-determination only  legitimizes such aspiration and deprives the aggressor of any claim  to authority over such people. The UN Expert on the promotion of a  democratic and equitable international order rightly stated that  rather than perceiving self-determination as a source of conflict,  armed conflict should be seen as a consequence of the violation of  the right to self-determination. 

Nalbandian considers that Azerbaijan stubbornly refuses to recognize  the right of the people of Nagorno-Karabakh to self-determination. As  part of Azerbaijan's policy of ethnic cleansing and aggression,  starting from the late 80s and beginning of 90s Armenians were  massacred and expelled from their homes. Nobel Peace Prize winner  Andrei Sakharov called it a threat of a new genocide of the Armenian  people.

"This year again, in early April in blatant violation of the  cease-fire agreement, Azerbaijan unleashed another large-scale  aggression against Nagorno-Karabakh, indiscriminately targeting  civilian infrastructures and population. Among the victims were a 12  year old boy and 92 year old woman.  Three captive soldiers of the  Nagorno-Karabakh armed forces were beheaded in DAESH style, which was  subsequently demonstrated in towns and villages and publicized  through social networks.  Furthermore, the leader of Azerbaijan  publically decorated the perpetrators of this crime. During the  exchange of bodies of the deceased between Nagorno-Karabakh and  Azerbaijan, carried out through the mediation of the International  Committee of the Red Cross, it was registered that the corpses  transferred from the Azerbaijani side had undeniable signs of torture  and were mutilated. Such despicable atrocities go beyond elementary  norms of the civilized world and constitute gross violations of  international humanitarian law.  Nalbandian stated that the April  aggression severely undermined the peace process. To restore the  trust in peaceful resolution of the conflict measures should be taken  to prevent the use of force and to create conditions conducive to the  advancement of the peace process. This was the main aim of two  Summits on Nagorno-Karabakh held in Vienna in May and in St.  Petersburg in June. First of all, it is imperative to implement what  was particularly emphasized and agreed upon at these Summits - first,  the full adherence to the 1994-1995 trilateral ceasefire agreements,  which do not have time limitations; second, the creation of mechanism  for investigation of ceasefire violations; third, the expansion of  the capacity of the Personal Representative of the OSCE  Chairperson-in-Office.

The acting Foreign Minister assured that Armenia, together with the  mediator countries - Russia, the United States and France - the  Co-Chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group, will continue its efforts towards  exclusively peaceful resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.   "The Co-Chairs have proclaimed a rather civilized formula for the  settlement - ballots instead of bullets. The proposal outlined by the  presidents of the Co-Chair countries stipulates future determination  of the final legal status of Nagorno-Karabakh through a legally  binding expression of will of its population. The mentality that  supports medieval barbarism, as witnessed in April, can hardly accept  the civilized approaches of the modern world", Nalbandian mentioned  in his speech.