Armenia

We are meeting at a symbolically significant time, between the 100th anniversary of the First World War and the seventieth anniversary of the end of the Second World War. Seven decades ago, at the end of the Second World War, the United Nations was established. Its mission was to form a new environment for civilization and culture in order to prevent the repetition of the previous tragic events of history. The year 2015 is of particular significance for all Armenians around the world. On 24 April, Armenians around the globe will commemorate the 100th anniversary of the most tragic page in the nation’s history: the Armenian genocide. It was an unprecedented crime, the objective of which was to eliminate the nation and deprive it of its homeland, and it remains an unhealed wound for every Armenian. The 1915 genocide was a crime against civilization and humanity, and its inadequate condemnation paved the way for similar crimes of mass murder in the future. Addressing the Assembly ahead of that 100th anniversary of the Armenian genocide from this rostrum, which I would call the podium of honour and responsibility, I declare our profound thanks to Uruguay, France, Russia, Italy, Belgium, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Sweden, Germany, Poland, Lithuania, Greece, Slovakia, Cyprus, Lebanon, Argentina, Venezuela, Chile, Canada and the Holy See. We thank them for their recognition and condemnation of the Armenian genocide, regardless of the form it took or the language used to express it. I thank the United States of America, the European Union and all those personalities, State bodies, territorial units and organizations in many countries that publicly called things by their proper name. That is indeed extremely important, since denial is an integral part of the crime of genocide. For an entire century now, Armenians around the globe and the entire progressive international community have been waiting for Turkey to show courage and face its own history by recognizing the Armenian genocide, thus relieving future generations of the heavy burden of the past. Alas, instead, we continue to hear ambiguous and messages with ulterior motives, in which the victim and the slaughterer are set on equal footing and history is falsified. Armenia has never made recognition of the Armenian genocide a condition for the normalization of bilateral relations with Turkey. In fact, Armenia was the party that initiated that process of normalization, which in 2009 culminated in the signing of the Zurich protocols. However, those protocols have been shelved for years now, awaiting ratification in the Turkish Parliament. Ankara has declared publicly that it will ratify the protocols only if Armenians cede Nagorny Karabakh and Artsakh to Azerbaijan. In Armenia and Artsakh, ordinary people often simply retort: “To hell with your ratification.” This vernacular phrase summarizes the age-old struggle of the entire nation and unequivocally explains to those who attempt to bargain with others’ homeland that the motherland is sacrosanct and they had better stay away from us with their bargain. It is in these circumstances that, currently, Yerevan is seriously considering the issue of recalling the Armenian-Turkish protocols from Parliament. The tragic events in Syria and Iraq that we are currently witnessing demonstrate how groups whose creed is hatred are targeting religious and national minorities. Two days ago, on Armenia’s independence day, the Saint Martyrs Armenian Church in Dayr Al-Zour, Syria, dedicated to the memory of the victims of the Armenian genocide, was mined and blown up by the terrorists. Such barbarity is a criminal demonstration of godlessness, which is in no way or shape related to any faith. The catastrophic situation in Syria and northern Iraq continues to deteriorate, and today hundreds of thousands of people are directly in peril. Among them are tens of thousands of Armenians in Aleppo, Syria. It is one instance to consider in the context of our joint commitment to preventing crimes against humanity. Armenia has voiced on numerous occasions the need to defend the Armenian population of Syria and the Yazidi population of north-western Iraq, and we are encouraged by the unified stance of the international community in that regard. The maintenance of international peace and security is the essence of our Organization. In recent years, Armenia has consistently consolidated its peacekeeping capabilities thereby preparing ourselves for more proactive engagement in that field. Armenian peacekeepers will very soon be dispatched to the south of Lebanon in the context of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon. The close collaboration we enjoy with our Italian colleagues enabled our participation in that endeavour. I strongly believe that our servicemen will fulfil their mission with dignity and a high level of professionalism and will use the extensive experience they have garnered in the last decade in Kosovo, Iraq and Afghanistan. It has been more than 20 years that our neighbouring State, through its unconstructive and maximalist stance, has thwarted the international community’s efforts aimed at the just and peaceful settlement of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict. The bellicose declarations and various threats made at the highest level in Azerbaijan have been completely tolerated on account of the international community’s failure to correctly assess them. The President of Azerbaijan has designated the entire Armenian nation as enemy number one, and what is considered in the rest of the world to be a crime, in Azerbaijan is considered to be a heroic act. Despite the fact that each conflict is unique, fundamental human rights and freedoms, including peoples’ right to freely express their will and self- determination, continue to evolve as a determinant in their resolution. The vote held a few days ago in Scotland once again proved that nowadays referendums are more and more widely perceived as a legal model for the peaceful settlement of ethnic conflicts. It was no coincidence that the right to decide one’s own fate through a referendum is at the core of the proposal put forward by the co-Chairs of the Minsk Group of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) for the settlement of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict. While discussing the Nagorno Karabakh conflict settlement, I must address the four Security Council resolutions — resolutions 822 (1993), 853 (1993), 874 (1993) and 884 (1993) — adopted during the war, which every so often are exploited by the Azerbaijani authorities in order to justify their obstructionist policy. Those four resolutions demand, as a matter of priority, the unconditional cessation of all military hostilities. Azerbaijan has failed to comply. Azerbaijan’s own non-compliance with the fundamental demands of the resolutions make their full implementation impossible. The resolutions call on the parties to cease their bombardments and air strikes targeting the peaceful civilian population and to refrain from violating the principles of international humanitarian law. However, Azerbaijan has continued its indiscriminate bombardments of the civilian population. Azerbaijan has not spared children, women or the elderly, thereby gravely violating all legal and moral norms of international humanitarian law. Now Azerbaijan cynically refers to those resolutions selectively — citing them out of context as a prerequisite for the settlement of the conflict. An adequate interpretation of the Security Council resolutions is not possible without a correct understanding of the hierarchy of the demands set therein. The resolutions, inter alia, request the restoration of economic, transport and energy links in the region and the removal of all obstacles to communications and transportation. It is no secret that Azerbaijan and Turkey imposed a blockade on Nagorno Karabakh and the Republic of Armenia at the outset of the conflict. In his statements, the Azerbaijani President even takes pride in that fact, promising his public that such action would remain the priority of Azerbaijan’s foreign policy. The aforementioned Security Council resolutions call on Azerbaijan to establish direct contacts with Nagorno Karabakh. Azerbaijan has refused to establish any direct contacts with Nagorno Karabakh, which was a legally equal party to the ceasefire agreement concluded in 1994, as well as a number of other international agreements. Moreover, Azerbaijan preaches hatred towards the people it claims it wants to see as a part of its State. None of the Security Council resolutions identifies Armenia as a conflicting party. Our country is called upon only to continue to exert its influence over the Nagorno Karabakh Armenians in order to put an end to the conflict. Armenia has fully complied, and due to its efforts a ceasefire agreement was concluded in 1994. All Security Council resolutions refer to Nagorno Karabakh as a party to the conflict. The Azerbaijani authorities have failed to implement the fundamental demands of the Security Council resolutions, including abiding by and adhering to the humanitarian norms. Incidentally, Azerbaijan has occasionally gravely violated that demand. Azerbaijan’s cruel and inhumane treatment of Armenian civilian prisoners of war regularly results in their deaths, although I imagine that no one would be surprised about that, since Azerbaijan is the very State that suppresses and exercises the most inhumane treatment of its own people. A clear proof of that was the decision of the Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture to suspend its visit to Azerbaijan due to the obstructions it encountered in the conduct of the official Baku. The OSCE Minsk Group is the only specialized structure that has been dealing with the Nagorno Karabakh issue according to the mandate granted by the international community. While Azerbaijan knows that it could not possibly deceive or misinform the Minsk Group, which is well aware of the essence of the problem, it attempts to transpose the conflict settlement to other platforms by trying to depict it as a territorial dispute or exploiting the factor of religious solidarity. That is ironic, since Armenia traditionally enjoys very warm relations with the Islamic nations, both in the Arabic-speaking world or, for instance, with our immediate neighbour Iran. We highly value the indispensable role of the United Nations in the adjustment and implementation of the development goals. I strongly believe that, through the new post-2015 development agenda, we will continue our efforts to seek solutions and respond to global challenges, in accordance with the Millennium Development Goals. In conclusion, I would like to underline that we have covered a substantial part of the path towards the shaping of the post-2015 development agenda and we will continue our endeavours in that regard, displaying the flexibility necessary to bring the process to its logical conclusion.