The right of secession of the Soviet Republics from the USSR was codified in Article 72 of the Constitution adopted in 1977. The procedure for exercising that right was defined by the 3 April 1990 USSR Law “On the Procedure for Resolution of Issues Relating to the Secession of a Union Republic from the USSR”. Article 3 of that law entitled the autonomous units and the compactly living ethnic minorities to withdraw from a Republic and independently determine their own destiny, if the Union Republic decided to secede from the USSR. Meanwhile, in this case, the Union Republic was obliged to hold a referendum on its independence also in the autonomous regions and areas of compact living of ethnic minorities with separate counting of votes. (1)
On 30 August 1991, after the Soviet Union’s failed coup d’etat on 19-21 August, Azerbaijan’s Supreme Council adopted its Declaration of Independence. (2) Azerbaijan’s statement on the secession from the Soviet Union entitled the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast and Shahumyan Region to decide their fate on their own, in conformity with the above-mentioned 3 April 1990 law.
Responding to this decision and taking advantage of the provisions of the 3 April 1990 law, the Councils of the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast and Shahumyan Region, at the 2 September 1991 joint session, decided to proclaim the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic within the borders of the AzSSR Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast and AzSSR Shahumyan Region as a federal entity of the Soviet Union, where the USSR Constitution and legislation were in effect, as well as other laws which did not contradict the goals and principles of the Declaration of Independence and features of the Republic. (3)
On 18 October 1991, the Supreme Council of Azerbaijan, without holding a referendum and asking the opinion of the ethnic minorities compactly living in the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast, Shahumyan Region and other places, and in violation of the relevant requirements of the 3 April 1990 law, adopted the Constitutional Act on Independence, thereby declaring its unlawful decision on seceding from the Soviet state-legal system, and legislatively fixing its waiver of the necessity to coordinate Nagorno-Karabakh’s fate with itself in the future. (4)
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On 26 November 1991, the Supreme Council of Azerbaijan passed a law on the abolition of the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast (5), which contradicted the articles of the USSR Constitution and was qualified as unconstitutional by the USSR Constitutional Supervising Committee (6). In response to that law passed by Azerbaijan, on 10 December 1991, the Referendum of Independence of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic was held in Karabakh in accordance with international law and the USSR legislation, and with the participation of international observers. It is extremely important to note that the fact of providing the Azerbaijani minority with every opportunity to participate in the Referendum is clearly documented. (7)
On 21 December 1991, the Heads of 11 Soviet Republics dissolved the Soviet Union by the Alma-Ata Declaration (8), which was followed by the legislative recognition of that political fact by the USSR Supreme Council. (9) Hence, the opportunity and the necessity of coordination of the referendum results with the USSR central authorities disappeared.
Thus, it should be mentioned that both the 4 July 1921 Decree by the Russian Communist Party (Bolshevik) Caucasus Bureau on including the Nagorno-Karabakh in the territory of the Soviet Armenia (10), and the 5 July 1921 Decree on including the Nagorno-Karabakh in the territory of the Azerbaijan SSR (11) were illegal, since the Caucasus Bureau was a party organ and had no liabilities for deciding state borders. In that event, the inclusion of the Nagorno-Karabakh in Azerbaijan by the decision of the Caucasus Bureau was illegal.
Thus, the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic has exercised its right of self-determination impeccably from the legal point of view, in conformity with the then-current USSR Constitution and laws, norms of international law, and principles of democracy.
The international community has recognized Azerbaijan as an independent state with the borders established by the USSR domestic legislation. According to this legislation, at the time Azerbaijan was gaining independence, Nagorno-Karabakh was not a part of Azerbaijan, and therefore the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan has nothing to do with the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic.
Doctor of Political Science Hayk Kotanjian
64, reg. 2, file 1, sheet 118). 64, reg. 1, file 1, sheet 124).
