BAKU (Yerkir.am)—A measure guaranteeing people’s right to self-determination, as well as two other measures calling for ensuring the rights of Christians in Syria and faulting member-states from allowing militant groups to enter Syria from their borders, all introduced by Armenia’s delegation, were approved during the Parliamentary Assembly of the OSCE being held in the Azerbaijani capital.
At the meeting of the OSCE-PA political affairs sub-committee, a measure that Armenia had been advancing before the meeting was approved. This measure, which guarantees the people’s right to self-determination was added to a provision introduced by Pea Kaouman of Finland, which guaranteed nations’ inviolability of borders and territorial integrity.
“Our delegation was actively advancing this issue from Yerevan,” said Armenian Revolutionary Federation parliamentary bloc secretary and a member of the Armenia delegation at Baku, Aghvan Vartanian, who added that the self-determination provision was included in the larger document at the urging of his delegation.
“The author of the original measure was in favor of the amendment and it passed with an overwhelming majority,” reported Vartanian.
Two other measures introduced by the Armenian delegation were also supported. The first was an amendment to a report regarding setting parameters for recourse against attacks on ethnic minorities in Syria. The Armenia delegation amended the report to include religious minorities, especially Christians. This measure was also approved.
The other Syria-related measure called on OSCE member-states to not allow passage from their borders to Syria by Islamist militant groups, which have committed crimes against ethnic and religious minorities in the region.
This measure directly dealt with the recent Al Qaeda-affiliated groups’ incursion into Kessab through the Turkish border, which was sanctioned by official Ankara.
“The measures approved by the OSCE-PA group were extremely important for the Armenian delegation,” said Vartanian.
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe of Japan said:
“Peace is not something you expect to be given, but it’s something that we must achieve on our own,”