On June 28-30, the delegation of Armenia, headed by Deputy Foreign Minister Ashot Hovakimian participated in the 2016 OSCE Annual Security Review Conference.
At the opening session, Deputy Foreign Minister Ashot Hovakimian welcomed keynote speaker H.E. Dr. Jose Ramos-Hortas, former President of East Timor and 1996 Nobel Peace Prize laureate, who, in his speech, presented the necessity of the implementation of people’s right to self-determination as fundamental and universal principle of protection of the human rights.
Deputy FM Hovakimian stressed that the use of force against the right of people to self-determination constitutes grave violation of the Helsinki Final Act and other OSCE commitments, and that principles and commitments taken by the OSCE participating states cannot have double reading and require unambiguous implementation. The principle of non-use of force comes first in this regard, and the OSCE is founded on that principle.
Ashot Hovakimian stressed, that there cannot be any excuse and justification for use of force, particularly in the context of the conflict, which is being addressed by a mediation format agreed by all parties to the conflict. Deputy Foreign Minister Hovakimian emphasized that the use of force by Azerbaijan against Nagorno-Karabakh should be strongly condemned by international community. Importance was attached to the maintenance of the 1994-1995 trilateral ceasefire agreements, creation of mechanism of investigation of cease-fire violations, as well as expansion of the team of Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office. It was also pointed out, that the statements of the Azerbaijani leadership do not read Azerbaijan’s intentions to peaceful resolution of conflict and rejection of further use of force.
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DFM of Armenia also delivered a speech at the session dedicated to Conflict situations in the OSCE- security aspects. In his remarks, Deputy FM Ashot Hovakimian mentioned, that the use of force by Azerbaijan constituted a serious threat to the regional security. Deputy Foreign Minister placed significance to the unconditional implementation of the agreements reached and reaffirmed in Vienna and St. Petersburg, mentioning that the Azerbaijani side blocks the proposal of the German Chairmanship on the expansion of the team of Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office. Ashot Hovakimian stressed, that just on the eve of the St Petersburg summit Azerbaijan held large scale military exercise on the vicinity of line of contact without relevant notification which casts doubts on sincerity of Azerbaijani leadership’s readiness to implement security and confidence building measures.
In the context of Middle East crisis, DFM Hovakimian raised concern with the continuous mass atrocities perpetrated against religious minorities in Syria and Iraq. He also mentioned that a number of participating states defined the atrocities committed against Christians and Yazidis as genocide. In this regard, Deputy Foreign Minister mentioned that any support provided by any state party, including the OSCE participating state, to the perpetrators may constitute complicity under the Convention of Prevention and Punishment of the Crimes of Genocide.
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