YEREVAN (RFE/RL)—Armenia boycotted a NATO summit in Chicago at the weekend in protest against what it described as the pro-Azerbaijani wording of a declaration adopted by the leaders of the alliance’s 28 member states.
The declaration mentions the unresolved conflicts in Nagorno-Karabakh as well as Georgia and Moldova in a long list of security challenges facing the West. It seems to single out territorial integrity of internationally recognized states as the guiding principle for their peaceful resolution.
“We remain committed in our support of the territorial integrity, independence, and sovereignty of Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, and the Republic of Moldova, and will also continue to support efforts towards a peaceful settlement of these regional conflicts, based upon these principles and the norms of international law, the United Nations Charter, and the Helsinki Final Act,” it says.
The document makes no references to people’s right to self-determination which has been championed by the Armenian side in the long-running international efforts to resolve the Karabakh conflict. A combination of this principle and territorial integrity has been at the heart of Karabakh peace proposals made by mediating powers, notably the United States and France, over the past decade.
Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian, who represented Armenia at the summit, emphasized this at a meeting with members of the Armenian community in Chicago on Saturday. He said the NATO declaration’s “worrisome” Karabakh-related language runs counter to the existing peace plan drawn up by the U.S., French and Russian co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group.
“That could harm not only the Nagorno-Karabakh negotiating process but also jeopardize the shaky situation in the region, especially against backdrop of an unprecedented rise in Azerbaijan’s military spending and its leadership’s bellicose rhetoric,” he reportedly said.
Nalbandian stated that this is the reason why President Serzh Sarkisian decided not to take part in the summit.
Sarkisian boycotted NATO’s previous summit held in Lisbon in late 2010 for the same official reason. A NATO declaration adopted at the time also upheld Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity in the conflict.
Is this the same NATO?
The NATO that attacked Serbia and violated its territorial integrity by creating Kosovo, now preaching territorial integrity for Azerbaijan? Was it not that the Armenian territory of Nagorno-Karabagh was donated to Azerbaijan by Stalin? I guess NATO has now gone Stalinist!
What territorial Integrity are they talking about. Let them first talk about Cyprus’ territorial integrity, didn’t Turkey
occupy the northern part of the Island in 1974?, or are they turning a blind eye to their backstabbing member?
President Woodrow Wilson clearly stated the international borders of Armenia to the west of the 6 Armenian Provinces in the ex-Ottoman empire’s eastern regions, as well as Lower Artsakh and Nakhitchevan to the east and south of Armenia, where the turkish side has signed that document in the Realm of the Treaty of Sevres.
Artificial Bazarbaijan and the Little Georgian Empire were invented and imposed by the Monster n Bloodthirsty Josip Stalin, by adding Adjaria, Abkhazia, Southern Ossetia a.w.as the Armenian Djavakhg Region to his Native Birthplace, under the pretext of Communist Brotherhood, thereby offending all the aforementioned States’ Territorial Integrities.
It looks like their aim is jumping on the oil wells of the Caspian, forgetting that it might explode against their
face, as in the case of Geogia in Aug. 2008!!! Double-Standards & Hypocricy to please turkey might backfire,
Think of your Democracy Propaganda and People’s Right of Self Determination. Artsakh earned it’s independence, when it had no army and when it was unorganized. Does anybody sain enough think, that
they are willing to give back (that easily), what they achieved by spilling their own blood with so many sacrifices?
Then you haven’t learned anything from the Armenian Perseverant Power!!!!!!!
This is the direct result of our dismal foreign policy which is one of appeasement coupled with bad diplomacy over all these years.
If we don’t change our policies and diplomats there will be more defeats round the corner.
Neocon NATO warmongers were not too worried about the territorial integrity of Yugoslavia when they bombed the Hell out of, and dismembered a sovereign country that had not attacked them.
Not too worried about territorial integrity when they helped Albanian drug dealers and human-organ traffickers take the ancient Serbian province of Kosovo from Serbs, the original inhabitants and owners.
Not too worried about the territorial integrity of Cyprus, while one of their NATO members illegally occupies 40% of it.
One of their members was also sitting there with them in Chicago, no doubt bloviating about the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan, while keeping 40,000 occupation troops on somebody else’s territory.
Did the NATO goons actually issue the statement with a straight face ?
Apparently the human rights of Albanians and Turks trump territorial integrity rights of the host countries – if the country happens to be Christian.
But when it comes to human rights of Christian Armenians, the so called territorial integrity of the fake country of Azerbaijan takes precedence.
Maybe I am giving in to paranoia. But is it possible NATO is actually run by Saudi Wahhabists and has been given the mission to destroy (Orthodox) Christian countries and communities all over the Globe ?
NATO with this kind of Rhetoric are playing a dangerous game. They are plunging the reagon into termoyl. But the out come will not change. Azerbayjan can not possibly capture Artsakh. Even with the help of the powerful Jews of NATO.
If NATO upholds territorial integrity of nations then why did the U.S. was for the independence of South Sudan and Kosovo.
I am proud of President Sarkissian “boycottong” the meeting.
No wonder Putin boycotted the G-8 meeting too.
The West has always been about double standards in its foreign policy. They talk about human rights and yet they beat protesters in Chicago. They talk about human rights in China yet they keep American Indians in “reservation concentration” camps, they talk about human rights and yet they killed over half a million of innocent Iraqis, they talk about human rights and yet they torture their prisoners, they talk about human rights and yet they continue protecting Turkey deny the Genocide.
I say like I have always siad “miyayn zenkov gah hayots pergoutyoun”.
Look at the faces of these morons. No smile just anger.
They know they have lost the economic war on poverty, they know the West is in decline, they know their countries are infiltrated by terrorist, they know China is rising, they know Putin is getting ready to divide Georgia once and for all, they know the Assad regime has won the battles and the war, they know Iran will have the bomb sooner or later, they know their national debts will never be paid, and that liar Obama knows very well he is a one term President without an American birth certificate.
President Serzh Sarkisian should have gone to the summit to defend Armenia, not hide. Throughout history boycotting political events always backfires. Boycotts only work in trade, not politics.
i have to say if not Russia than who we should stand with ??? if anyone else other then Russis we be sold the same day …… !!!!! now it is like a marriage and more ,,,,, everyone must understand USA have ISRAEL ..RUSSIA have ARMENIA ..the rest is talks and BS and i always said if any WW I I I all Armenians and many of them so called patriotic and half ass patriotic s will end up in foreign army’s,,, even they can end up on the Armenian nation enemy’s list ,,out of 12 million Armenians in the world only 3 million will defend Armenia the other 9 million can only talk and talk and talk and talk because they use energizer battery’s ….
it is a beautiful wonderful morning in Armenia and i just waked up and watching mt Ararat where the Turks & US NATO forces have a base with all this guns pointed on Yerevan and Armenia ..and who is facing them who is defending Turkish Armenian borders for almost 100 year now ??? RUSSIANS and since Independence RUSSIANS & ARMENIANS TOGETHER … if any body think we could have a victory in Artsakh without secured border with Turkey is dead wrong //next day we be invaded by Turkiyaaaaaa
so there 12 million turkic nation member in russia and another kavkaz people dagestane chechen etc they always readu to batray russia and they always kill christians there what happen nothing ? :))
The principle of territorial integrity is precisely what Armenia must be guided by, and not simply the principle of self determination. The fact is it was Armenia that was cut in two by competing empires (Eastern Armenia and Western Armenia). The Armenian Genocide caused the annihilation of the Western part, and then the remaining Eastern part was cut in three pieces- Javakhk was given to Georgia, Nakhichevan and Artsakh were given to so-called ‘Azerbaijan’ by Lenin and Stalin. If it weren’t for the Soviets, those 3 provinces would be a part of Eastern Armenia, and an ‘Azerbaijan’ wouldn’t even exist. Nowhere in history has a state or kingdom called ‘Azerbaijan’ ever existed. ‘Azerbaijan’ is strictly a 20th century, Bolshevik invention!!
Thus, in the Artsakh Liberation and Re-unification War, we simply have an example of brave, freedom-loving people undoing the tyrannical acts of Stalin. There’s a book aptly titled “Stalin: Breaker of Nations” written by Robert Conquest. This is precisely who Stalin was and what he did in his Soviet social engineering.
got oil?
The issue that NATO needs to understand is that people’s right for self-determination is far more important issue than Stalinist demarcation of borders. I thought NATO was established to stop the Stalinization of Europe. Sadly today they are defending Stalin’s legacy in the Caucuses. President S. Sarkisisan was right to avoid Lisbon and Chicago.
I fully support Serj Sarkisian’s stand on boycotting the Chicago NATO summit. NATO must stop these double standards as it will otherwise lose credibility as a force which was set up to uphold freedom, human rights, self detrmination, etc. Unfortunately the recent evidence suggests that NATO has become a tool for maintaining the supply of oil flowing to the west in order to support their unsustainable life style. To mention these double standards one doesn’t have to look far except to creation of Kosovo, turning a blind eye tio Turkey’s abismal human rights record, the fiasco in Iraq and Lybia, and now Azerbaijan. Hypocritical bunch of so called politicians.
Horsy Alioff oily shake hand confirm his loyalty to his owners!! NATO control world’s oil fields minus Iran, Russia and China…any little kid can calculate political outcome of NATO meetings!!
oen day, we will take yerevan…………………:)
vvallah 🙂 ?
ONE DAY WE WILL TAKE CONSTANTINOPLE 🙂
one day we will take roma moscow jarussalem and there will be not any christian nation got the point : )
OK that time you will be assimilated maybe among the Armenians, Greeks and Russians being someone else but not Turks 🙂
This is outside the NATO charter. NATO is the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and it should keep it’s nose in Western Europe where it belongs. It just wants to hurt Armenia because it is a CSTO ally. I think Armenia should allow China and Russia to both host ICBM bases in Armenia.
Armenia should join the Shanghai Cooperation Council and allow Chinese bases in the NKR.
Armenia should approve that Russian radar system and should ask Russia to give Armenia a military base at the Dagestan/ Azeri border to launch an attack into Azerbajian if the Azeris attack the NKR.
Nato always pushes its nose where it doesnt belong to. I wonder how much they got from Aliev or how many times they got from Merhaba
WHY CAN WE NOT BE MORE REALISTIC ,THE PRESIDENT SHOULD NOT BOYCOTT THE MEETING, INSTEAD GO AND POINT FINGERS TO ALL THE OTHER COUNTRIES THAT HAVE STOOD BACK AND WATCHED ARMENIAN ALWAYS GET THE SHORT END OF THE STICK,BY STRESSING THE LIES BY THE UNITED STATES,ISRAEL,GERMANY,YES GERMANY AND THE BIGGEST LIAR OF THEM ALL TURKEY.
NATO has already shown that it stabbed Greece and Cyprus in the back during the 1974 Turkish invasion of Cyprus. If Armenia is dumb enough to even consider joining NATO, Turkey will invade Armenia. Armenia needs to become armed to it’s teeth and Russia must start acting firmly . Putin needs to toughen his stands and cause a large increase in military spending especially in nuclear missles, surface to air missles and stealth technology. Russia has to use these high oil prices to it’s advantage.
NATO is the military arm of the oil companies.They want to protect their oil interest while weakening China and Russia and supporters of Russia and China.
NATO,a big joke.