On
the eve of the Parliamentary Elections in the Republic of Armenia, discussing
the Statement of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs of 17 February, 2017 on the
Constitutional Referendum of 20 February, 2017 held in the Republic of Artsakh,
the Board of the Political Science Association of Armenia (PSAA) adopted an
Appeal to the Secretary General of the OSCE and the OSCE Minsk Group
Co-Chairmanship states.
Below
the full text of the Appeal is presented by the Chairman of the Political
Science Association of Armenia, Professor, D.Sc. Hayk S. Kotanjian.
The Promotion of Democracy in the
Karabakh Conflict Zone as a Peacebuilding Resource for Conflicting Parties and
the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairmanship
The Political Science
Association of Armenia has the honor to address Your Excellencies – the
Secretary General of the OSCE Mr. Lamberto Zannier, the Minister of Foreign
Affairs of the Russian Federation Mr. Sergey Lavrov, the US Secretary of State
Mr. Rex Wayne Tillerson, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of France Mr.
Jean-Marc Ayrault on the maintenance of peace in the turbulent zone of the
Karabakh armed conflict and the surrounding volatile region of the Greater
Middle East.
On 20
February 2017, a National Referendum on the draft of a new Constitution was
held in the Republic of Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh Republic). The turnout has
been 76,44 % of the registered voters, of which 87,6 % supported the adoption
of the new Constitution. Around 100 international observers from 30 countries
monitored the voting process and positively assessed the organization and
conduct of the referendum noting their transparency and compliance with
international standards (NKR
MFA Statement, http://www.nkr.am/en/news/2017-02-21/903/).
The
Constitutional Referendum of 20 February 2017 became the successive step in the
legitimate institution-building in the Republic of Artsakh, based on the
democratic will of the population in the continuation of the results of
Referendum of 10 December 1991 on the independence of Artsakh with the
establishment of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic in accordance with the norms of
the international law and the Soviet legislature then active (Закон СССР “О порядке решения вопросов, связанных с выходом союзной республики из СССР” No 1410-1 от 3 апреля 1990 г. [Law on the Resolution
of Issues of Secession of a Union Republic from the USSR”, No 1410-1; 3 April, 1990]; “Ведомости Съезда народных депутатов СССР, Верховного Совета СССР”,
1990, No 15 [Gazette of the Congress of People’s Deputies of the USSR, the
Supreme Soviet of the USSR, 1990, No 15]; Report on the
Results of the Referendum on the Independence of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic, http://www.nkr.am/en/referendum/42).
The comparative
analysis of the current state-building processes in the neighboring states of
the Republic of Artsakh – the Republic of Armenia and the Republic of
Azerbaijan – shows fundamental distinctions in terms of the development of
democracy in these countries. Following the record of another positive result
of applying a referendum tool of direct democracy in the state-building of
Nagorno-Karabakh one may notice an opposite trend of rollback to
totalitarianism in neighboring Azerbaijan. In particular, the former US
Ambassador to Azerbaijan Richard Kauzlarich qualified the appointment by Ilham
Aliyev of his wife Mehriban Aliyeva on 21 February 2017, to the position of the
first Vice President as a step towards the establishment of a monarchy in the
country (Former US Ambassador to Azerbaijan Speaks Out Against Choice of First
Lady as VP, Published on 23 February 2017, https://www.meydan.tv/en/site/politics/21308/). At the same time,
the ruling regime in Azerbaijan systematically carries out repressive measures
against the opposition, trying to suppress any manifestation of dissent in the
republic. Many opposition figures are convicted under various articles, are
obliged to leave the country; many international organizations have repeatedly
drawn attention to the extant human rights situation in Azerbaijan, describing
it as unacceptable (Orwellian Big Brother Chairing at the Committee of
Ministers of the Council of Europe. Europe Et Orient, dimanche 31 août 2014, http://europeetorient.blogspot.am/2014/08/orwellian-big-brother-chairing-at.html).
The Political Science Association
of Armenia analyzed these facts that evidence the deepening systematic
totalitarianization of power in Azerbaijan, which is accompanied by the use of
the energy resources of this state for narrow clan purposes and as a resource
for more militarization of the Republic of Azerbaijan’s budget and as a result
of this – as a main factor of returning the Karabakh conflict to the acute
phase of war. These trends contrast with the condition in the Republics of
Armenia and Artsakh, particularly, with the recent constitutional reform in the
Republic of Armenia, as a result of which the state makes a transition to the
parliamentary form of government. Thus, in terms of the development of
democratic institutions, there is a widening gap between the Republic of
Armenia and the Republic of Artsakh, on the one hand, and the Republic of
Azerbaijan, on the other, which unequivocally manifested itself in the
referenda on constitutional amendments held on 6 December, 2015 ‒ in Armenia,
26 September, 2016 ‒ in Azerbaijan and 20 February, 2017 ‒ in the Republic of
Artsakh.
Through the Constitutional
Referendum in the Republic of Armenia the Basic Law was adopted, aimed at the
further promotion of democracy in the process of transition to the
parliamentary model of governance, as evidenced by the assessments made by the
OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights according to the
results of the Referendum (OSCE/ODIHR final report on Armenia’s Constitutional
Referendum recommends inclusive electoral reform. 5 February 2016, http://www.osce.org/odihr/elections/220781).
The contradiction between the
constitutional changes and Azerbaijan’s international commitments to protect
democracy was claimed in the letter of the Helsinki Committee for Human Rights
‒ one of the most prestigious US institutions in the field of human rights
protection ‒ addressed to Ilham Aliyev before the Referendum, which
particularly states: “By extending presidential terms and expanding presidential
authorities, the proposed constitutional changes are susceptible to abuse that
would entrench political authority, making it less responsive to the will of
the Azerbaijani people. We are especially troubled by the amendments that would
restrict fundamental rights vital to open public debate and government
accountability” (Azerbaijan’s Constitutional Referendum Creates Crisis of
Legitimacy, https://www.csce.gov/international-impact/press-and-media/press-releases/azerbaijan-s-constitutional-referendum-creates?&&&&sort_by=field_date_value&page=3).
Against this background, an
extensive process of democratic state-building is consistently implemented in
the NKR. Since 1991, competitive presidential and parliamentary elections have
been held in the NKR, and since 1998 – local authorities have been formed
through elections. According to the assessments of international observers,
elections in the NKR are conducted in line with the Electoral Code of the
Republic and according to the universally recognized norms of international
law, as a step reinforcing democratic institutions and developing the civil
society (Statement of the International Independent Observation Mission on
Nagorno-Karabakh Parliamentary Elections 2015, http://cecnkr.am/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/1.Statement-NKR-Election-Final.pdf;
British Political Scientist: Parliamentary Elections in Nagorno-Karabakh Show
that it is More Democratic than Azerbaijan, 13.05.2015, http://www.panorama.am/en/news/2015/05/13/elections-nkr/53787).
The NKR Constitution, adopted
through the Referendum in 2006, imparted a more systemic character to the
process of state-building (Constitution of the Nagorno Karabagh Republic: http://www.president.nkr.am/en/constitution/fullText/). Today, the NKR
population has all the legal and political tools for the organization of
domestic life, formation of political and state structures, as well as
development of democratic institutions.
At present, by its political
culture and the level of development of democratic institutions, the
Nagorno-Karabakh Republic (renamed the Republic of Artsakh as a result of the
recent Constitutional Referendum) outperforms Azerbaijan. The proof of this is
the Freedom House Report “Freedom in the World 2017”, where Azerbaijan is
included in the list of “not free” states, whereas the NKR and the Republic of
Armenia in that of “partly free” states (Freedom House “Freedom in the World
2017”, https://freedomhouse.org/report/freedom-world/freedom-world-2017).
The escalation of the situation
along the line of contact on the night of 25 February, 2017, once again
demonstrated the problematic character of identifying the perpetrators of
ceasefire violations, and stressed the urgency of effective and immediate
implementation of agreements reached on at the Summits of Vienna and St.
Petersburg in 2016 towards the introduction of mechanisms for monitoring
ceasefire violations. (Joint Statement of the
Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation, Secretary of State of
the United States of America and State Secretary for Europe Affairs of France. http://www.osce.org/mg/240316).
At the same time, unlike other
conflicts (Ukraine, Syria), the continuous coherence of US and Russian
positions towards the settlement of the Karabakh Conflict enables to consider
the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairmanship as an effective platform for opening a
constructive dialogue between these states (Carey Cavanaugh, Renewed Conflict
over Nagorno-Karabakh, http://www.cfr.org/regional-security/renewed-conflict-over-nagorno-karabakh/p38843).
In this regard, it
would be effective to assume control over the warlike preparations of the sides
in the entire zone of the Karabakh Conflict through the orbital means of the
OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chair states from the near-Earth space. Such innovative
application of hi-tech information and communication technologies in the outer
space sensing for deterring a war could also become an experimental platform
for the exchange of targeted intelligence information among the OSCE Minsk
Group Co-Chairs – the Russian Federation, the U.S. and France, aimed at peace
building. This innovation in political-diplomatic containment and military
deterrence in the case of success could be used globally to prevent the
escalation of Karabakh-like frozen local conflicts towards a war with the
catastrophic involvement of actors from volatile surrounding regions like the
South Caucasus, the Middle East and Central Asia (МГ
ОБСЕ – платформа консенсуса РФ, США и Франции в сдерживании войны. REGNUM, 9
ноября 2016 г.: https://regnum.ru/news/polit/2207408.html; The OSCE Minsk Group
as a Platform for Unbroken Consensus of Positions among the RF, USA and France
in Deterring a War: Kharabakh’s Example, Geostrategic Pulse, N 225, 5 December
2016).
According to the above-mentioned,
we call upon the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chair states to consider the Constitutional
referenda of 6 December, 2015 and 20 February, 2017, correspondingly held in
the Republic of Armenia and the Republic of Artsakh, as well as the upcoming
Parliamentary Elections in the Republic of Armenia as stages of democratic
institution-building in the Republic of Armenia and the Republic of Artsakh, as
well as a factor contributing to the stability and security both in the
turbulent zone of the Karabakh armed conflict and the surrounding volatile
region of the Greater Middle East.
