STATEMENT
By
H.E. Mr. Vartan Oskanian
Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Armenia
at the
57th Session of the United Nations General Assembly
General Debate
New York, September 15, 2002
Mr. President,
Mr. Secretary-General,
Excellencies,
Distinguished Delegates,
May I begin by congratulating Mr. Jan Kavan upon his election to the
post of President of this 57th session of the General Assembly and wish
him success in his work. I would also like to thank Mr. Hang Seung-soo
for having so ably conducted the 56th session.
It is with special pleasure that I welcome the admission of the Swiss
Confederation to the United Nations. That we have the pleasure and the
opportunity to welcome such a new member – a longstanding democracy
which has only recently chosen to enter this forum – is continuing
testimony of the vitality, viability and relevance of this unique body.
Mr. President,
This time last year, new states and old, were thunderstruck by terror
that is still indescribable. We were reeling from the enormity of what
terrorism had wrought, even as we looked for a place from which to begin
to understand why. Millennia of experience with the devastation of war
had not provided us with the tools necessary to diagnose this new form
of combat.
Today, a year later, as we persevere with the arduous endeavor to eradicate
the affliction, we also continue to search for causes. We distinguish,
certainly, between comprehending and concurring, awareness and acquiescence,
understanding and justification. At the same time, we recognize that diagnosis
does not always bring its own cure.
We cannot go back to where we were a year ago, in either our assumptions
or our actions. The fundamental question we must all answer is: What is
it that we can and cannot, should and should not do to other human beings?
The answer must include a rejection of plain injustice and abject poverty.
This will go a long way towards alleviating the hopelessness that perpetuates
those same societal ills.
It is with this in mind that we welcome the targets and timetables adopted
to spur action on a wide range of issues at the just-concluded Summit
on Sustainable Development. Critical among these goals is the need to
provide and manage water, as a basic element of life, and a basic requirement
of dignified living. Without them, neither economic nor political stability
is possible.
The other two major UN events of this year -- the Conference on Financing
for Development and the Special Session on Children – also demonstrate
that social and economic development must be tackled in tandem, for global
peace and security.
In Armenia, too, we are focusing on both aspects of development. The
Armenian Government’s Poverty Reduction Strategy Program aims to
establish an umbrella for formulation and implementation of sustainable
human development strategies in areas damaged by earthquake and conflict.
We shall do this by building domestic capacities for governance, restoring
social services in education and health, agricultural development, reforestation,
and disaster preparedness.
Armenia’s response to the very Special Session on Children is the
elaboration and implementation of our National Plan of Action for Children.
The National Plan of Action sets 10-year goals for the protection of the
rights of the child, outlines principal strategies and establishes indicators
and mechanisms for monitoring progress toward the enumerated goals.
The decades of summits and forums on the variety of social and economic
ills which face modern societies have amply demonstrated that committed
partnerships are necessary for serious progress. At home, government and
civil society have to work together to implement the decisions of these
forums, but at the global level, governments and international agencies
must also provide together the resources and impetus for these universal
agendas.
Mr. President,
Economic prosperity hinges on internal, regional and international stability.
That stability in turn depends on cooperation and goodwill. In our region,
despite the existence of various conflicts, we continue to be hopeful
that democratic processes will create civil societies with responsible
leaders committed to a resolution of political issues.
In Armenia, we look forward to a year of elections: Presidential elections
– the fourth since independence – will be followed by parliamentary
elections, which in turn will be followed by a referendum on constitutional
reforms. We are proud that we have had a working constitution for more
than seven years, and that constitution has seen us through difficult
periods without leading to domestic turmoil.
Nevertheless, as with any evolving society, we recognize the need to
make some changes in order to more accurately reflect our commitment to
becoming a society which respects the rule of law and the rights of individuals.
We are equally proud that the Armenians of Nagorno Karabagh, too, in
the midst of their ongoing struggle for self-determination, have also
completed another presidential election cycle. Indeed, the people of Nagorno
Karabagh deserve to be commended for adopting the rule of law, despite
continuing adverse social and economic conditions.
As the OSCE and its Minsk Group co-chairs continue to work with Armenia,
Azerbaijan and Nagorno Karabagh towards a settlement that will wisely,
with an eye to the realities on the ground, determine Nagorno Karabagh’s
final status, it is self-evident that only a democratically elected leadership,
which enjoys a popular mandate, will be able to actively and legitimately
participate in the final negotiations that affect the status of their
own people.
It was with this in mind that in 1992, at the Helsinki CSCE Council of
Ministers, it was decided that elected and other representatives of Nagorno-Karabakh
will be invited to the [Minsk] Conference, entrusted with determining
the final status of Nagorno Karabagh.
Therefore, while elections and democratization do not presume any status,
self-determination is always more legitimate when accompanied by democratic
processes.
The international community seems to understand, often welcomes, and
sometimes assists in electoral democratic processes in areas whose international
legal status is still in flux and ostensibly subject to the sovereignty
of an existing state. We do not understand why such wise and non-prejudicial
approaches or strategies should be denied to Nagorno Karabagh where de
facto self-rule is already in place for almost 10 years.
And, democratization and self-determination together become both necessary
and inevitable when the formation of the new independent entity takes
place inside states which are deficient in democracy and their respect
of human rights and the applications of all the principles of the UN is
unsatisfactory.
Nothing demonstrates this more than East Timor’s upcoming membership
in this body. So it is with pleasure that we extend to them the heartfelt
congratulations of the Armenian Government. East Timor’s presence
here is proof that a blanket rejection of all self-determination claims
is not valid, and does not take into account the very real fact that these
movements are, by their nature, not all alike or even similar. Different
self-determination struggles have evolved in decidedly different ways.
Therefore, each ought to be treated differently.
The international community's challenge continues to be to adopt policies
that will contribute to the peaceful solution of each conflict.
In order to adopt correct policies, criteria must be adopted by which
to characterize and judge each case on its own merit, realistically taking
into account the real situation on the ground, in order to reach lasting
peace.
What the people of Nagorno Karabagh and the whole region are still waiting
for is lasting peace.
And I would have thought that this is what the leadership of Azerbaijan
would want, as well. Based on the very hopeful meetings which take place
between the presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan, we have reason to be
positive.
However, having followed the comments of my colleague from Azerbaijan,
made from this podium, I’m not just shocked, I’m also dismayed
that he is not keeping pace with the progress being made in the region
by his and my presidents.
It’s been two years since the meetings of Paris, and Key West,
when the international community put forth their views on the issue. Since
then, some Azerbaijani officials, out of desperation or ignorance, use
every means at their disposal to discredit the initiatives of that international
community, looking for ways to artificially link them to the critical
issues of the day.
After September 11, the talk of the threat of international terrorism
caused Azerbaijan to make accusations which came full circle to damage
its own reputation, when according to Western sources, Azerbaijan’s
own 10-year-long relationship with terrorists came to the surface, and
it was demonstrated that indeed Azerbaijan had served as a regional terrorist
hub.
So, that didn’t work. Today, since the international community
speaks of countries’ responsibilities towards Security Council resolutions,
Azerbaijan frivolously makes the same accusation about Armenia, without
considering that indeed, Armenia has done exactly what the international
community expected: use its good offices with the leadership of Nagorno
Karabagh to help find a peaceful solution to this conflict.
Mr. President,
Azerbaijan has a choice: To continue with crude delusional manipulation
and naïve wishful thinking, and hope for a return to a historical,
military and political situation that is long gone. Or, join the international
community, through the offices of the OSCE’s Minsk Group co-chairmen,
to continue in the hard search for peace. The people on the ground, on
all sides, have demonstrated their readiness for peace, for political
and economic stability. The leaders at the very top persist with the honest
dialog that will chip away at the political obstacles. We who are entrusted
with transforming these efforts and desires into a just peace must approach
our task honestly and responsibly.
Let me say the following: Nagorno Karabagh has never been a part of independent
Azerbaijan. Whether we consider history or geography, whether we adopt
a long-term political perspective, or whether we face the reality of the
facts on the ground, the men, women and children of Nagorno Karabagh have
earned the right to live peacefully on their historic lands.
Mr. President,
I wish to take the opportunity this podium provides to re-iterate President
Kocharian’s statement before this General Assembly two years ago
to work for the recognition of the Armenian Genocide and to prevent the
repetition of such human atrocity. We extend our profound appreciation
to all those governments, legislatures, and international bodies that
have recognized the Armenian Genocide, and pledge our cooperation to all
those that are currently in the process of reaffirming the facts of this
crime against humanity. As a signatory of the Convention on the Prevention
and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, the Armenian Government places
a high priority on the struggle to prevent future genocides and to stand
up against all attempts to deny past genocides. We support all initiatives
that reinforce the international consensus behind this landmark treaty.
Mr. President,
It is becoming clear that this millennium, too, will not be violence-free.
Today, when global peace appears a distant hope, Armenia observes the
volatility in the Caucasus, the Middle East and elsewhere with trepidation.
To face such challenges, Armenia supports proposals by the UN Secretary
General aimed at the strengthening of the organization so that it can
face new challenges in a more satisfactory way. Additionally, Armenia
is in favor of more equitable representation at the Security Council,
as well as more transparency of its activities.
The situation in the Middle East, in Afghanistan and around Iraq, remains
a continuing example of the need for a vibrant and strengthened United
Nations, able to assert the will of the organization’s membership,
and empowered with greater authority to implement its decisions.
As states and governments continue to search for new ways to deal with
emergent internal conflicts and increasingly complex interrelationships,
Armenia is of the belief that the UN must stand for all the easy-to-orate
but difficult-to-deliver principles of economic and political justice
and equality among people. Given our uneven history and problematic geography,
it is no surprise that Armenia is an advocate of multilateralism and collective
security. From the vantage point of a country with our resources and limitations,
we realize that peace is not possible without social justice, sustainable
development and respect for the rights of all individuals and peoples
in the community of nations.
Thank you Mr. President.
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U.S. Official Details Armenian
Support to War in Afghanistan
A U.S. military official disclosed on Monday details of
Armenia's support for the American military campaign in Afghanistan, saying
that Yerevan not only opened its airspace to U.S. warplanes but also offered
Armenian airfields for their possible emergency landings.
In an exclusive interview with RFE/RL, Lieutenant-Colonel Eric von Tersch,
the U.S. military attaché, said the overflights through Armenia
spared U.S. aircraft stationed in neighboring Turkey the dangerous task
of refueling in mid-air on their way back from Afghanistan. He also revealed
that about 360 Armenian nationals had volunteered to fight against the
Taliban regime alongside U.S. troops last fall.
"I've got a list of about 360 people who wanted to pack up, go over
to Afghanistan and contribute to the war on terror," von Tersch said.
"These were all volunteers. It wasn't coming through the government,
and obviously, we were not going to accept people like that."
"As much as we appreciate their offer of support, it has to come
through the government. It can't come through the individuals," he
said, suggesting that the Armenians expected solid financial compensation
for their participation in the war.
It was not clear whether any of those men had taken part in the ill-fated
Soviet occupation of Afghanistan. Some 1,400 Armenians served in the Soviet
troops that controlled much of the country from 1979-1989. More a hundred
of them lost their lives.
Von Tersch said the individual offers of support were "matched officially
in several ways," reminding of the Armenian government's decision
in September 2001 to allow the U.S. warplanes to fly over Armenian territory
on their Afghan missions. He claimed that they carried only "humanitarian"
cargos.
"The airplanes were coming out of Turkey and dropping all the foodstuffs
to different groups of Afghan people," the U.S. official explained.
"They could fly to Afghanistan, drop their loads and fly back directly
without having to do the dangerous refueling in the air. If they didn't
fly over Armenia, they would have had to go over Georgia, which would
have required the refueling in the high altitude."
Von Tersch further revealed that the Armenian government allowed U.S.
planes returning from Afghanistan to carry out emergency landings in Armenia
and pledged to provide medical treatment to the American servicemen "in
case we had spinal injuries in Afghanistan and couldn't get them all the
way down to Germany."
He said: "If a plane got shot up on its way back from Afghanistan,
it could land in Armenian airfields without clearance and questions. We
also had an understanding that if any of those planes went down in Armenia,
the Armenians would provide security and medical care for the pilots."
The military strikes on Afghanistan, which followed the September 11
terror attacks, and the resulting review of Washington's security priorities
led to the lifting of the U.S. government ban on military aid to Armenia
and Azerbaijan. Each of the two Caucasus foes received over $4 million
in American military assistance shortly afterwards.
The Armenian government wants most of the funds to be spent on the upgrading
of its military communication facilities -- a proposal accepted by the
United States. According to the military attaché: "Aside from
the communications equipment that will be purchased and provided to the
Armenian military, we will also train a lot of their people to help them
set up a communications school here to restructure the way they do their
communications procedures."
Von Tersch said the other part of the aid will be used for the training
of Armenian military personnel, including a special peace-keeping battalion
set up last year with a substantial financial and technical support of
NATO member Greece. "We will come in behind and help the Greeks finish
forming this peace-keeping battalion," he added.
The U.S. Congress is expected to earmark another $4 million worth of
military assistance to Armenia for the next financial year.
By Armen Zakarian
Source: www.Armenialiberty.org
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SPEECH
BY HIS EXCELLENCY VARTAN OSKANIAN
MINISTER OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS OF THE REPUBLIC OF ARMENIA
AT TESEV
/Turkish Center for Economic and Social Studies/
June 26, 2002
First in the spirit of regional solidarity, let me congratulate Turkey
in its football triumphs. There are some victories that we can all applaud
and delight in.
Let me express my appreciation for the opportunity extended to me by
TESEV to address this group. Anyone interested in the significance of
political debate, in Turkey, as it faces important choices and tough challenges,
cannot but recognize TESEV's role in the maintenance of a consistently
high quality of discourse and the effort to be comprehensive and open
to a wide range of ideas and positions.
I am sure you will all understand if I tell you that Armenia is quite
interested in the substance of political debate in Turkey. After all,
for the last half millennium, the destinies and the lives of our countries
and our peoples have been intertwined. Not easily, not always for the
best, but given that history and geography have thrown us together, we
are neighbors.
We are not the only neighbors in the world who have had, and who continue
to have, a troubled relationship. Troubled memories, a tortured past,
recriminations, unsettled accounts and the enduring wounds of victimhood,
plague the national consciousness of peoples on many borders. In our case,
some distance between our two countries might have allowed us to put distance
between our past and our future. But we have no such luxury. There is
no space, no cushion, between us.
As we left Yerevan Monday morning, we could see Mount Ararat ever so
clearly, both from the ground and from the air. We could almost reach
out and touch it - almost. Ararat - and Turkey -are only 45 miles from
my own Ministry. But we can not go there. As such, Ararat symbolizes both
our pride and our frustration. It is a constant reminder of Turkish-Armenian
ties, relations and history. They are all there in that mountain.
We know that evil ghosts on the Franco-German border were exorcised with
the construction of the European Union.
But we also know that elsewhere, as in the Balkans, the last 10 years
have seen the convulsions of settling the unsettled scores of centuries
of accumulated resentment, domination and repression. To redress their
deep-rooted antagonism, new structures, new frameworks are emerging, with
the help of the hard-won experiences and the models of Western Europe.
Tolerance, mutual respect, the admission of past excesses as well as the
security of each entity and cooperative interdependent economies all contribute
to implementing alternatives to interminable feuding.
It should not surprise anyone if we suggest that we in the South Caucasus
should look carefully at such efforts to take solid steps to seriously
address the challenges borne of historically rooted conflicts, centenary
in their origins, embedded in the collective memories of peoples. Nor
can these conflicts be simply resolved or cosmetically reformulated by
those who believe that the past is an irrelevancy. History is as much
the foundation of a neighborhood as geography, a common landscape of plateaus,
majestic mountains or shared river basins.
In this neighborhood, Turkey is Armenia's neighbor, just as Armenia is
Turkey's. This fact can be self-servingly ignored, manipulated, marginalized
or resisted. But it cannot be denied or changed, except with bloodshed
and further conflict.
I am sure you, too, remember the wisdom of your grandparents. My grandmother
-- from Marash -- used to say that neighbors are more important than even
family, and those relations must be nurtured. It is no different for states.
No matter what else, we must talk to each other, deal with each other,
visit each other, trade with each other, and do so within the framework
of our own sovereign equal identities. This is true for each and all of
our neighbors. It is not for Armenia to judge Turkey's friendship with
Azerbaijan. Shared ethnic, cultural, linguistic, economic or even strategic
interests are understandable.
But that is no reason to isolate others or hold captive one set of interactions
for the benefit of a third party. We do not hold Turkey's moral, political,
economic -- even military -- assistance to Azerbaijan against it. We may
not always like that closeness, or appreciate its implications for our
own security.
Nevertheless, we are ready for dialogue, for diplomatic relations, for
open formal sovereign communications, without which regional imbalances,
instability and even hostilities cannot be righted, mitigated, and anchored
in reciprocal understanding.
Where there are no open channels or constant dialogue and exchange, old
ghosts will keep rattling in everybody's closets. To wait for them to
go away before beginning dialogue and exchange means waiting forever.
It means that - - perhaps - we do not want them to go away. If indeed
we do, then the demons, which are poisoning our air, must be attacked
together, their legacy must be transcended together. They relate to all
of us, and they will only disappear when we tackle the abyss of experience
and memory, which separates us.
To do this, Armenia advocates full diplomatic relations with Turkey without
preconditions.
This does not mean Armenia is willing to renounce its national memories
nor dismiss the historical injustices it has suffered. We notice with
satisfaction that in Turkey there has been a movement away from a monolithic,
undifferentiated rigid approach concerning the Genocide to a more pluralistic
and varied debate. This debate within Turkey may have not moved forward
official policy, but Armenia is gratified to see this debate occur, where
the subject is no longer taboo.
After all, memory does not heal by denial. The truthful assuming of responsibility
is a precondition for the rebuilding of trust. Open relations between
our two countries can further contribute to the slow but steady improvement
of mutual confidence.
Ironically -- and being the huge optimist that I am, I would say fortunately
-- your resistance to open relations with Armenia is not based on the
existence of our shared historic problems. Rather, relations between Turkey
and Armenia are being held hostage to Armenia's own conflicts and tensions
with Azerbaijan.
Quite honestly, Armenian and Azerbaijani relations, too, are being held
hostage - hostage to Azerbaijan's own reluctance to recognize incontrovertible
facts on the ground, its tendency to confuse stubbornness for principles,
its desire to build policy on myths and fables, and its denial of the
reality that a future must be built on a real past and a viable present.
Let's look at those realities: Nagorno Karabagh has never been part of
an independent Azerbaijan - either before Soviet rule, or since the fall
of the Soviet empire. Except for the Soviet period, Nagorno Karabagh had
never been under Azerbaijani control. The men, women and children of Nagorno
Karabagh seceded from Soviet Azerbaijan legally in accordance with the
constitutional framework of the very Soviet Union, which had incorporated
Nagorno Karabagh into Azerbaijan, admittedly arbitrarily, in 1923. During
the Soviet years, its population was oppressed, their rights systematically
denied. Hence, they repeatedly sought redress. Since its legal separation
more than a dozen years ago, a whole generation has grown up in Nagorno
Karabagh, free of Azerbaijani control.
The world has acknowledged that the Soviet era has ended. Let us then
not consent to continuing to define our regional relations and determining
our people's futures based on conditions created by a Stalin long dead.
His empire is dismembered, his construction of arbitrary political and
ethnic borders is collapsed, his control has long ended, and we do not
have to be saddled with implementing his unrealistic, unjust vision. Armenians,
Turks and Azeris together can transcend what history has wrought to reach
a peace and prosperity that our peoples deserve and that reflect their
own free choices.
OR, we can keep coming up against a lack of flexibility, a lack of courage
to accommodate change and to try new solutions, and a lack of genuine
vision in order to embrace the change.
Azerbaijan has succeeded in convincing Turkey that blockading Armenia
will diminish Armenia's economic capacity, undermine its self-reliance
and force Armenia to negotiate from a weaker position and hence compel
it to consider concessions it would not otherwise be willing to make in
the conflict over Nagorno Karabagh.
Turkey's and Azerbaijan's continued closures of the borders with Armenia
are based on the demonstrably false premise that Armenia's weak and collapsing
economy will force it to accept any solution imposed by friend and foe
alike. Perhaps, Azerbaijan, for a variety of reasons, including domestic
consumption, world public opinion, and the need to justify clinging to
a politics that so far have been ineffectual, needs to create and perpetuate
the myth of Armenia's utter vulnerability, and its being on the verge
of economic collapse. Others who are not in that situation and who could
think otherwise, based on their own national self-interest, do not have
to buy into that mythology and do not have to invest in politics and strategies
based on false assessments.
Armenia and its economy are not collapsing and its rank in the Human
Development Index is ahead of some unexpected rivals. On the Index of
Open Economies, too Armenia, in 45th place is way ahead of our neighbors
in the region. Last year, our GNP grew 9.6 %; in the first half of this
year we've achieved 10 percent, and hope to finish the year at that rate
of growth. Our macroeconomic indicators have been consistently promising.
As you can see, fables are born when things cannot be said accurately.
Of course, while we have a way to go to fully fulfill our potential, it
is evident that we are not as fragile as some would wish us to be. On
the contrary. Certain hardships can harden the resolve of people who are
unfairly besieged. And we are no exception. It is not too soon for our
neighbors to realize that the last decade's politics of pressure, discrimination
and blockades have not achieved their intended goals. Instead, they may
have added to our determination to solidify and strengthen relations with
those of our neighbors who value our friendship and share with us common
interests both bilaterally and in the region.
They have had another effect as well. They have done nothing to soothe
the sense of suspicion and resentment. If Turkey is going to live up to
its role as regional leader, and is committed to being a fair, effective
and positive actor in the stabilization and peace of the South Caucasus,
it cannot pursue a policy of explicit, unabashed partiality, a politics
of exclusion and one-sidedness, of insulating Armenia, or surrounding
it with military and economic alliances that look like they intend to
contain and strangle.
It is worth for a moment to remember that Armenia does not have the capacity
to damage, contain or strangle Turkey. Indeed, this fear can, realistically,
only be one-sided. And provocations by one's neighbor can feed such fears.
When alliances and assistance can leap borders, it is more and more difficult
to successfully carry out unilateral, partial policies. Today, both Armenia
and Turkey see their future in Europe. This gives us one more reason to
cooperate, to seriously implement the reforms that are as important to
us as they are to a watchful Europe. TESEV's invitation to change mentalities,
to embrace change and to see the world in a way that recognizes the primacy
of the individual human being substituting to the mechanical impulses
of domineering realpolitik and intrusive statism is a welcome corrective.
Accepting the full implications of a change in mindsets, which is both
cause and effect, is a step in the right direction for all of us. We welcome
the challenge and the opportunity of dealing with a historic neighbor
whose europeanization is in our common interest.
Indeed, TESEV's general focus on the need for active cooperation between
the governments and the peoples of the region for the region's future
peace and prosperity is very much in line with Armenia's thinking. The
riches of the region, both in terms of natural and human resources, as
you say, are indeed important assets for the welfare, solidarity, and
cooperation of the region's people. However, we call on you to consider
that waiting for the problems to be resolved before such cooperation begins
means no cooperation at all. Today, Turkey and Armenia have a chance to
base their future in this region on peace, on future stability, on economic
and social parity, and mutual understanding.
The opportunities are ours to seize and the benefits are ours to reap.
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PRESIDENT
ROBERT KOCHARIAN'S ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS BY AGENCE FRANCE PRESSE