LISBON (RFE/RL)–The leaders of NATO’s 28 member states singled out Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity as the guiding principle of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict’s resolution in a weekend declaration denounced by Armenia but welcomed in Azerbaijan, RFE/RL’s Armenian service reported Monday.
A senior Azerbaijani official on Monday portrayed that as further proof that Armenia is an “aggressor state.” Leading Armenian opposition groups were also quick to pounce on what they called a serious diplomatic setback for Yerevan.
The wide-ranging declaration adopted at a NATO summit held in Lisbon on Saturday, says: “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, taking into account these principles.”
Armenian President Serzh Sarkisian boycotted the summit in protest against this general reference to unresolved ethnic disputes in the former Soviet Union. His spokesman, Armen Arzumanian, warned on Friday that it will complicate international efforts to broker a peaceful solution to the Karabakh conflict.
Arzumanian argued that United States and another key NATO member, France, advocate a Karabakh settlement based on territorial integrity and two other internationally recognized principles: peoples’ right to self-determination and non-use of force. A combination of these principles is at the heart of a framework peace accord put forward by the U.S., Russian and French co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group.
NATO officials have still not reacted to Sarkisian’s dramatic move. Armenia was represented at the summit by Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian and Defense Minister Seyran Ohanian.
The two ministers attended only a session of the summit devoted to the situation in Afghanistan. Nalbandian did not mention Karabakh in his speech at that meeting.
The Azerbaijani government did not officially react to the Lisbon declaration. Still, the deputy executive secretary of the ruling Yeni Azerbaycan Party, Mubariz Gurbanli, hailed it as “quite significant.”
“The adoption of this document is an open message to circles infringing on Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity, and it confirms that Armenia is an aggressor state,” Gurbanli told the APA news agency. He called it a “success for our diplomacy.”
Representatives of Armenia’s leading opposition forces likewise described the NATO declaration as a serious blow to the Armenian position on the Karabakh conflict.
Giro Manoyan, a senior member of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation. said the declaration shows the Sarkisian administration has failed to boost Armenia’s standing in the West despite his policy of rapprochement with Turkey. “The fact is that that standing is not quite high because they just don’t listen to our views,” he told RFE/RL.
Manoyan added that Yerevan should retaliate by formally annulling the Western-backed Turkish-Armenian normalization protocols signed a year ago. “This is yet another occasion for Armenia to withdraw its signature from the protocols with Turkey so that they start treating us seriously in NATO,” he said.
A parliament deputy from Sarkisian’s Republican Party of Armenia insisted, meanwhile, that the NATO support for Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity is not a setback for Yerevan. Gagik Melikian argued that both the U.S. and France stand by the Minsk Group’s existing peace plan that upholds the Karabakh Armenians’ right to self-determination.
“I don’t consider this a diplomatic defeat,” Melikian told a news conference on Saturday. “On the contrary, I consider this yet another important and positive step on the path to our diplomatic victory.”
Manoyan, however, suggested that it will not have a “fundamental impact” on the Karabakh peace process.
The mediating powers and Russia in particular hope that Sarkisian and Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev will bridge their differences over the peace formula proposed by the Minsk Group co-chairs in time for the summit.
In an apparent effort to nudge the conflicting parties closer to a long-waited peace deal, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov hosted fresh talks between his Armenian and Azerbaijani counterparts in Moscow on Monday. Official sources in the three countries gave no details of the meeting.
Nalbandian and Azerbaijan’s Elmar Mammadyarov already had a brief conversation on the sidelines of the Lisbon summit.
Siding against Kharabagh spelled the end of Soviet Union. It is so SAD that NATO can not see it’s own down fall by siding against Kharabagh. This would Tare NATO from within as member states would side on different sides. IF NATO is that stupid. Then be it. Because I can guaranty U. Armenian citisens of NATO states would no longer support their fledgling economy. NATO countries have no idea who they are dealing with. It is our brains they have been using to fule their golden rise to power. At a time when they are facing a growing China and India it will be a dromatic fall from grace. My advise to all Armenians, abandon the Western NATO countries as it is a sinking ship.
NATO IS GOING DOWN IN FLAMES.
To some extent, this NATO declaration is a sop to Azerbaijan because 1) It lost the war 2) It has the gas and oil NATO wants to run its war machine and 3) NATO also said that it does not recognize Georgian and Moldovan separatist regions backed by Russia and thus it did not wish to make an exception for Artsakh.
I suggest, as have others, that Karabagh officially change its name to Artsakh. Even if it does not officially do this, Armenians and Armenia should start referring to it as Artsakh.
I say this especially because, after all, the OSCE Minsk group has referred to Stepanakert as Kakhendi.
That is nasty of the OSCE group (Russia included) to do that. So Armenians have to strike back in the same fashion, and we are justified in doing so since Azerbaijan is a newly-minted and fake country anyway.
Read this review of Rouben Galichian’s book, The Invention of History, in the Armenian Weekly:
http://www.armenianweekly.com/2010/07/08/chorbajian-sleight-of-hand-on-the-world-stage/
Azerbaijan is a fake country and thus Atrsakh could never have been a part of it.
THE ARMENIAN PEOPLES !!!.
Genesis 10 –
3And the sons of Gomer: Ashkenaz and Riphath and Togarmah.
TOGARMAH – COMPERE BELOW –
BUKHARA –
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bukhara
BACTRIA .
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bactria
SOGDIANA –
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sogdiana
THE TOCHARIANS –
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tocharians
THE SARMATIANS TODAYS SEBIANS(SLAVS)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarmatians
(SCYTIA=GYTIA=GOTIA – COMPARE – GRUSIA-GOSIA GOUSAI -GOETSIA – GOTIA)
http://ossetians.com/eng/news.php?newsid=412&f=3
(OSSETIANS AND GRUSIANS = OSGRUSIANS – COMPARE -Ashkenaz -THE FORFATHER OF ALL PEOPLES OF GOTIC GERMAN ORIGIN)
GOD BLESS MY ARMENIAN BROTHERS !!!.
Arn Sweden:
why does no one say that if turkey leaves are land maybe we can give it back . turkey invaded cypress and armenian lands and nato says nothing .
What the armenian government is waiting for to officially recognize the independance of Artsakh. Did Turkey waited Kosovo to be recognised by Serbia before officially recognising it ?
NATO is biased against anything that is pro-Russian.
Look at Kosovo. It supported the Bosnians because they were fighting against the Serbs–a pro-Russian country.
NATO is controlled by the same middle eastern tribe that controls the world–yes the New World Order. Who cares about Armenia and Artsakh. Who cares about justice and decency. Genocide is just a joke if its not theirs. The world is going full speed ahead to a catastrophic climax just like the Bible says. They are drunk with their thirst for glory. By the time the sleepwalkers of the world wake up it will be too late. Armenians know all of this and we are marked as we are of this not of this demonic New World Order. Armenians need to always put their faith in themselves and in Jesus Christ. Watch this world go down in flames just like Book of Revelation says will happen.
Who does Gagik Melikian think he’s fooling? He’s just trying to save his party’s already bad image because this was their EPIC failure diplomacy.
in* diplomacy.
Whasn’t it the same way in beginning of twentieth, when Armenia have become a victim of confrontation between West and Russia? It seems that history is repeating itself. West don’t need Armenia. They need to completely eliminate Armenian state and have azers and turks to form single state. This will get Russia out of the region and strengthen NATO control over it. I’m not sure if we can rely on Russia in a long run. There can be only one reason why world powers ignore injustice towards Armenians taking place in many forms and cases. They must be having a secret agenda to completely eliminate Armenian state. If someone have any doubt please let me know because I hope I’m wrong.
RUSSIA WILL NEVER CAPITULATE TO THE WEST -.
This will get Russia out of the region and strengthen NATO control over it. I’m not sure if we can rely on Russia in a long run
IF THEY DID – THEY WOULD BE THE FIRST VICTIM – TO A WAR – WITH AND AGAINST CHINA.,
IN SUCH AN SCENARIO – RUSSIA WOULD NEVER SURVIVE – AND RUSSIA KNOWS THIS.
RUSSIA WILL NOT SACRIFICE ITSELF ON THE WAR-ALTAR OF THE WEST – AGAINST EAST-ASIA.
EVEN BECAUSE OF THIS – ARMENIA SHOULD SEEK THE BEST TRUSTIE EVER – GOD HIMSELF !!!.
GOD BLESS ARMENIA AND THE ARMENIAN PEOPLE !!!-
Arn of Sweden.
THE RULER OF NATO IS THE US – THE OTHERS MEMBERS ARE ONLY PUPPETS.
THE WRITING IS ON THE WALL – “”” THE US IS LOST “”” – IT HAS FALLEN PREY TO ITS DEMIGOD – THE DOLLAR – AND ONLY SEES EVERYTHING IN HER EGOISTIC ECONOMICAL INTERSTS
THIS IS THE FUTURE OF THE US – “”” HER THIRD PERIL “” – IN THIS PROPHESY –
http://www.propheticroundtable.org/vision_of_george_washington.htm
GOD HAS CHOSEN ANOTHER PEOPLE,
AND ANOTHER NATION,
TO STAND FOR FREEDOM AND JUSTISE IN THE WORLD –
YUGOSLAVIA read future SERBIA –
http://www.ourchurch.com/member/e/e/index.php?p=1_10_Yugoslavia
Revelation 6
And I saw when the Lamb opened one of the seals; and I heard, as it were, the noise of thunder, one of the four living beings saying, “Come and see!”
2And I saw, and behold, a white horse, and he that sat on him had a bow; and a crown was given unto him, and he went forth conquering and to conquer
HE WILL RULE FROM TSARIGRAD – YES YOU WILL SEE !!!.
Arn.Sweden.
I am afraid Mike you are not wrong. But you are wrong for worrying about it. 45,000 Armenian Army with the leadersheep of General Baghramian an Artsakhtsi, defeated the southern wing of the 2 WING German Army in the second world war. Marching all the way to the gates of Berlin. Untill he was asked by Stalin to stop advancing into Berlin so a Russian General would get the Glory. Now we have an Armenian Army of 60,000 strong and an Artsakh army of 16,000 strong. We could capture Europe if we whanted to. So Turkey and the laughable Azerbayjan are not a threat. I am afraid the WEST is all too aware of this fact and they are scared of us. A military alliance between Armenia and Iran could create an Empire that would rattle the cages of Israel. This is keeping NATO awake at night. But if they keep pushing us to the brink then we would have no option but to punce back. May GOD have mercy on their sole, for we will go Armagedon on them.
Armenia is not taken seriously by others because we, Armenians do not take ourselves seriously. Look at us, even when it comes to April 24, the most sacred issue supposedly to us, we have 3-4 group of “officials” going to Washington and having separate meetings with representatives. What a joke! We can not agree on the most fundamental issues facing us today. No fundamental plan as a nation or group of people of how to formulate or proceed in a certain political path. Unless we get our act together, and very very soon, there will be no hope for us as thousands of our youth demonstrate by their complete apathy towards Armenian issues. Shahan Shahnour is smiling in his grave.
Mike you are not wrong, you are exactly right. Russia has been a great ally, but Armenians must prepare worldwide to do whatever is necessary to prevent our rights from ever being violated again. This whole fiasco is about oil, and the Azeris have lots of it.
We won the war, and those that win wars do not cede land or anything else, the world knows this and the Allies in WW I and WW II practiced it. Arstakh (FORMERLY known as Nagorno-Karabagh) is ours by historic right, historic precedence, not to mention a spoil of the war self determination that we won, Armenians must never forget this.
Armenia should and must recognize Arstakh, and as another commenter said, Armenians MUST refer to our land by its true name from now on, Arstakh. We must also be ready to assist our brethren in Armenia and Arstakh in any way possible, and we must also realize that the day may come very soon in which diplomacy may be cast aside again and the war machine started.
The oil and the pipelines that carry it must be targeted by Armenians in Armenia, in Artstakh, and the Diaspora. Touch our land, violate our rights to self-determination again, or continue to make hypocritical NATO resolutions and it is the oil that will bleed, burn, and suffer. This time, Armenians should not be interested in spilling Azeri blood, we need to spill Azeri oil, only then will we secure our nation and make our voice heard.
I agree with one of the comments about Armenia recognising Artsakh as independant from Azerbayjan. That is the only true responce to the NATO outrage. Any other action would be read as weakness by the Barbarians of the world. Why does’nt NATO make a sweeping statement about the illegal blockade of Armenia by Turkey. Their missorable efforts to keep us down is only making us stonger. Infact NATO keep doing what you are doing for it is time for the the Armenians of the world to wake up and turn their backs to your Barbarism.
What is it that inhuman, word-wide and pretend that it doesn’t exist?
What is it that attack its victim and pretend that it’s been victimized?
What is it that says: We will kill you from the hideout as a natural process, but if you resist and refuse to die we will kill you from the open on a purpose?
It must have a name.
Wow!! Armenia sacrificed the hard work of Armenian Americans by agreeing to the protocols on the eve of April 24th, which freed President Obama from his campaign promise to acknowledge the Armenian Genocide. Once the April 24th bullet was dodged the monster, Turkey, decided that the protocols were not good enough and the border remained closed. Armenia kept its signature on the protocols document out of respect for the same NATO countries that have been for the past 95 years aiding and abetting our enemy in its quest to get away with the murder of 1.5 million people and the plunder of Western Armenia. NATO votes for what suits NATO. WHEN ARE WE ARMENIANS GOING TO STAND TOGETHER, AND FIGHT FOR WHAT SUITS US??? We have always been enamoured by the foreigners, who have consistantly duped us… Is there an ounce of a chance that we will ever learn from our past mistakes?
Armenia should acknowledge the independence of Artsakh now, on the basis that Artsakh was always Armenian and given to Azerbaijan by Stalin, on the basis of the Artsakhzi people’s right for self determination, on the basis that the Azeris will ethnically cleanse the Armenians if Artsakh remains part of Azerbaijan, and on the basis that Artsakh won the war that Azerbaijan started in order to kill off all of the Armenians living in Azerbaijan.
They will make us into a second Palestine if we do not stand strong together, and stop getting lured into deceiving and conniving negotiations from the same deceiving and conniving countries of the past. Once and for all…. we have no friends… we only have each other! So please start empowering each other!
Every Armenian in every single one of the NATO countries should articulate their outrage. We need to do a better job in promoting the truth: KARAPAGH WAS ALWAYS ARMENIAN… IT WAS GIVEN TO AZERBAIJAN BY STALIN… AZERBAIJAN STARTED PROGROMS TO ETHNICALLY CLEANSE THE ARMENIANS… THE ARMENIANS FOUGHT BRAVELY IN SELF DEFENSE AND WON THE WAR….AZERBAIJAN WAS THE AGGRESSOR… KARAPAGH WAS THE VICTOR….NATO CAN SELL ITS MOM FOR OIL… NOT ONE INCH OF LAND WILL BE GIVEN… WE SHOULD DEMAND THAT TURKEY RETURN OUR OCCUPIED LANDS ON THE BASIS OF TERRITORIAL INTEGRITY…. WESTERN ARMENIA WAS AWARDED TO US BY THE TREATY OF SEVRES…TURKEY HAS BEEN OCCUPYING IT….WE SHOULD TAKE TURKEY TO COURT FOR THE GENOCIDE…NOW…PEOPLE…NOW….IT’S ENOUGH WAITING AND LOSING THE UPPER HAND AND HELPING IN DILUTING THE TRUTH BY NOT FACING IT…
MY HEART STANDS WITH THIS !!!.
GOD BLESS THE ARMENIAN PEOPLE.
BEVERE OF THE WESTERN WORLDS HYPOCRISY.
Arn.
Why does it want to destroy us?
Three possible reasons:
We were the first to adopt Christianity.
We have more advanced genetic potential.
We are of the true God’s lineage.
We all agree that we need to unite our people and coordinate our efforts and there is some progress. But many of us do not participate in anything because for most people it’s based on personal enthusiasm then on ethnic duty. Church unite our nation in religion but it doesn’t deal with issues outside of Christianity scope. We have other organizations that deal with non-religious national issues but those are not so wide spread. I wish our elders could establish organization that was as global as our Church and focusing on national issues.
Also, I’m worrying about our youngsters. They need to see the light at the end of a tunnel and right now there isn’t any light visible.
While azers sell their oil Armenian children grow in poverty and military uncertainty, without hope for better future. That is unacceptable.
Church unite our nation in religion but it doesn’t deal with issues outside of Christianity scope
WELL – IT SHOULD !!!.
JESUS SAYS –
” THY WILL BE DONE – AS IN THE HEAVENS – SO UPON EART ” –
AND IT IS WRITTEN –
” JESUS IS CHRIST COME IN FLESH ” !!!.
SO – THE KINGDOM OF GOD – WILL COME IN THE FLESH – UPON EARTH –
SO THERE IS AND SHOULD NOT BE ANYTHING CALLED – OUTSIDE CHRISTIANITY.
ARMENAI SHOULD AND MUST THEREFORE UNITE IN CHRISTIANITY IN ALL MATTERS,
AND THE ONES WHO UNDERTANDS THIS,
SHOULD START WITH IT –
TURN GODWARDS IN JESUS CHRIST – AND THERE WILL BE VICTORY –
WAR IS APPROACHING AND ARMENIA WILL FACE WERY DIFFICULT TIMES AHEAD,
MAY THE ARMENIAN PEOPLE HEED THE CALL OF GOD –
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rPv_S3RpIF4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ENtL_li4GbE
Arn.Swden.
COMPERE THE CHRISTIAN FINNLAND – A TINY NATION WITH SOME 3 MILLION INHABITANST – BEATING THE ATACKING SOVIET ARMIES – IN THE SECOND WORLD WAR.
Arn.Sweden.