Do you give an “opportunity” to the Kremlin for a new “trade” by self-determined NKR?
On March 18, the Treaty on including the Republic of Crimea and Sevastopol city into the composition of Russian Federation was signed in the Kremlin with great fanfare.
On the same day, in the Veracnund (Renaissance) Square of Stepanakert, Karabakh, there was a big concert, one might say, a real celebration was held devoted to the “self-determination of the people of Crimea.” The festive event was attended by senior officials of Nagorno-Karabakh: NKR President Bako Sahakyan and the Speaker of the National Assembly Ashot Ghulyan. The explanations of the official were as follows: we welcome all the peoples of self-determination, including the Crimean population.
On March 17, the NKR Foreign Ministry released a statement, which said that they view the referendum in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea as the next display of exercising the right to peoples’ self-determination. Later, the Nagorno-Karabakh Parliament declared that the parliament’s factions and the Deputy Group welcome the people of Crimea on the occasion of exercising a historic opportunity.
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In fact, Karabakh’s “renaissance” is synonymous with, or equivalent to a process followed in the result of the Russian invasion in Ukraine, moreover, it is welcomed and called a “historic opportunity”.
The display of people’s expression of will, yes, is positive and encouraging to everyone, yes, the Armenian side should always emphasize that under the international law, the territorial integrity of the states does not prevail over people’s free expression of will. However, another fact is not clear. Nagorno-Karabakh people has passed and is passing a complicated path of its own self-determination. Adopting the “Declaration of Independence” in one day, submitting an application to join the Russian Federation on the same minute, and later, on the same day, hastily signing a Treaty on including Crimea and Sevastopol into the composition of Russia, by what logic is the official Stepanakert considering it a “historic opportunity?”
It would be naive to think that the celebration held in the Renaissance Square of Stepanakert was not agreed with the official Yerevan, therefore, it is an opportunity to note that non-justified flattery to any Russian initiative is not appropriate for a nation, which anticipates international recognition of NKR from the civilized world. Interestingly, why similar celebration was not held in Stepanakert, when Kosovo was declared? Or, the Kremlin would not like the fact of being excited by the Kosovo precedent…
After the collapse of the USSR, the Armenian side, on the complicated path to the independence, had victories in the Karabakh war imposed on us not only on the battlefield, moreover, it could record these victories also in the diplomatic front, making Karabakh’s right to self-determination a basic support point. We are expecting from the civilized world recognition of Karabakh internationally, but today, when the whole civilized world is condemning the Russia military invasion to another sovereign country and the subsequent referendum in the Crimea, we consider “one more precedent for realization of the right to self-determination” and a “historic opportunity”, thus we seemingly are undermining the real historic day of December 10, 1991, when the people of Nagorno-Karabakh decided the destiny of Nagorno-Karabakh by referendum.
By lowering on the same level and equaling the expectation of Nagorno-Karabakh’s international recognition from the world with the “Crimean historic opportunity”, the authorities of Armenia and NKR are not only creating a dangerous “precedent” for the Armenian side, moreover, are providing an “opportunity” for a new “trade” to the Kremlin through self-determined NKR. It seems that there is no need to have a special acumen to understand all of these.
However, it seems that now we are again entering the phase of Armenian replication of “Crimean precedent”. Zori Balayan’s letter is followed by new analyses regarding the opportunities of including Karabakh in the composition of Russia and conclusions about the matter that Karabakh can join not only Armenia, but Russia, too.
Emma GABRIELYAN
