Each year, the great family of nations comes together
to assess what the Organization has achieved and to
consider together ways to respond to the problems
facing the world and to acknowledge what unites our
nations and what still divides them.
For 65 years, the General Assembly has carried
out this both difficult and noble mission. That mission
was summarized very well by the first speaker at the
first session of the General Assembly, on 10 January
1946, as the maintenance of peace and security and the
establishment, through cooperation, of those conditions
of stability and well-being which will ensure peaceful
and friendly relations, based on the principle of equal
rights and self-determination among the nations of the
world.
Since then, the General Assembly has changed.
The number of Members has almost quadrupled, major
decisions have been made, historic documents have
been adopted, old problems have given way to new,
and the scope of responsibilities of the General
Assembly has greatly increased as it has opened itself
to new challenges in international security,
non-proliferation, disarmament, respect for human
rights, poverty, terrorism, global warming, the financial
crisis and many other issues.
In short, many things have changed, including the
century.
Nevertheless and despite the developments that
have marked recent decades, the situation in the region
where Armenia is situated prompts me to return to that
day, 10 January 1946, which is so distant yet so close,
given the objectives that were put forward then and
which continue more than ever to underpin our actions.
How is it possible to maintain peace, security and
stability when we keep raising defence spending and
regularly threaten to use force and to start wars? How
can we promote friendly and peaceful relations
between peoples when we promote intolerance and
hatred and impose blockades and closed borders? How
can we assure the principle of the equal rights of
peoples and their right to make their own decisions
when we reject the fundamental principle of
international law — the right of peoples to self-
determination?
I would like to hereby touch upon the conflict
between Azerbaijan and Nagorno-Karabakh. The
people of Nagorno-Karabakh exercised their right to
self-determination two decades ago. They fought for
their right to freedom, withstanding the brutal war
unleashed by Azerbaijan, which had suppressed them
for 70 years and attempted to cleanse them from their
ancestral home. For that purpose, it even resorted to
the use of mercenaries closely linked to international
terrorist organizations. The people of Nagorno-
Karabakh had to pursue their right to self-
determination as they were being denied their right to
existence.
The right of peoples to self-determination is a
fundamental and indispensable right enshrined in the
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Charter of the United Nations. The advisory opinion
issued by the International Court of Justice in July
reaffirmed the wisdom of the founders of this
Organization, who made sure that one of the
fundamental principles for maintaining peace and
stability in the world — the right of peoples to self-
determination — could not be underrated in any way
compared with the other principles of international law.
Let us be realistic. One cannot say each and every
time that this is the last self-determination case. No
one is able to stop the progress of history; otherwise,
there would not be 192 Member States in this
Organization instead of 51, as there were at the time of
its founding.
The Nagorno-Karabakh peace process moves
forward with the internationally mandated mediation of
the Co-Chairs of the Organization for Security and
Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Minsk Group, who
continue their persistent efforts aimed at the peaceful
settlement of the conflict based on the fundamental
principles of international law: the non-use of force or
threat of force, the equal rights and self-determination
of peoples and territorial integrity.
On 17 July, at the margins of the OSCE informal
ministerial meeting in Almaty, the Minsk Group
Co-Chairs issued a statement in which they reiterated
that the proposed principles and elements have been
conceived as an integrated whole and that any attempt
to select some of them over others would make it
impossible to achieve a balanced solution. Armenia
fully shares this vision and will continue the
negotiations on that basis in search of a peaceful
settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
Unfortunately, Azerbaijan rejects two of the three
principles mentioned and is attempting not only to turn
upside down the essence of the negotiation process, but
also to distort the nature of the conflict in various
international forums, including the General Assembly,
as happened here about two weeks ago and again two
days ago. That country is attempting to mislead the
international community, presenting the consequences
of the conflict as its causes.
Azerbaijan’s unabated war rhetoric, growing
violations of the ceasefire regime, and unprecedented
military budget increases only exacerbate the situation,
raising concerns about the already fragile stability in
the region. Azerbaijan continues to reject proposals to
come to an agreement on the non-use of force or threat
of force, as well as calls for the consolidation of the
ceasefire. Azerbaijan’s attitude thus represents a threat
to regional peace and security. The money it derives
from oil revenues is being directed at funding new
military ventures. We all know the potential results of
such adventurism.
Azerbaijan should refrain from its continuing
attempts to remove the settlement process from the
Minsk Group format and framework and from making
provocative and bellicose statements and actions, in
order that the negotiation process may proceed more
constructively and effectively.
In an era when the protection and promotion of
human rights are considered essential in the civilized
world, intolerance for the values of others and acts that
intentionally, consistently and repeatedly damage or
destroy the cultural or religious heritage of other
civilizations must be condemned with the same resolve
and determination as violence against people.
The destruction by Azerbaijanis between 1998
and 2005 in Nakhichevan of thousands of cross-stones
delicately carved by Armenian masters in the ninth to
the sixteenth centuries is a vivid example of such a
crime. Under the Azerbaijani Government’s watchful
eye, thousands of these gigantic medieval sculptures
were bulldozed and the area turned into a military zone
in a Government-sanctioned operation. A resolution at
the sixteenth General Assembly of the International
Council on Monuments and Sites stated regretfully
with regard to this act of vandalism: “… this heritage
that once enjoyed its worthy place among the treasures
of the world’s heritage can no longer be transmitted
today to future generations”.
Armenia’s initiative for the normalization of
relations with Turkey without any preconditions was
fully supported by the international community. Last
year, after intensive negotiations, we achieved
agreement and finally signed the Armenian-Turkish
protocols. We made a confident investment in a durable
rapprochement, while Turkey, unfortunately,
backtracked from its commitments and not only
refrained from ratifying the signed protocols, but
returned to its initial language of preconditions.
Consequently, the Armenian-Turkish border continues
to remain the only closed border in Europe. Good
intentions must be proved in deeds, not just words.
Armenia is ready to move forward when Turkey will
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once again be prepared to normalize relations without
preconditions.
While we are discussing all possible ways to
create a more prosperous and safer world for our
peoples, we would be remiss if we did not speak about
the responsibility to protect. As a nation we survived
the most heinous crime against humanity, genocide,
95 years ago. We attach the utmost importance to
furthering all international efforts aimed at the
prevention of genocide and crimes against humanity. It
is encouraging that further discussions of the
Secretary-General’s report on early warning,
assessment and the responsibility to protect (A/64/864)
are being held in the General Assembly. This will
enable us come up with a formula that will allow us to
act in a timely and coherent manner, utilizing all the
United Nations system resources and capabilities for
early warning, assessment and prevention of situations
that could lead to genocide, war crimes or crimes
against humanity.
To bolster United Nations capacity to deal with
current challenges and those ahead, we need to
increase our efforts to further the process of United
Nations reform, making more efficient and effective
use of existing resources, making the “One United
Nations” policy work, and better utilizing regional
capacities to complement our global actions.
Today, the world is evolving faster than ever. To
meet security, political, economic, social,
environmental and other challenges we simply have to
put our efforts, resources, and political determination
together to deal with them and move the international
development agenda forward.