‘Maybe the Turks are talking to themselves silently”.RA Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandyan

On the Day of School and Knowledge RA Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandyan visited Yerevan State University and addressed a speech before the students and staff of professors and lecturers of the faculty of international relations.

An official from the press, information and PR department of RA Foreign Affairs Ministry told Armenpress that the minister congratulated the first-year students and wished them to get a lot of knowledge and have success in the new academic year.

The Minister said the traditional September 1 meetings at the faculty of international relations are a good opportunity to discuss the foreign policy events, developments and diplomatic steps of Armenia.

‘After our last meeting there were a number of developments in the process of negotiations over the regulation of the Nagorno Karabakh issue, as well as in the Armenian-Turkish relations, in the European direction of our policy and in the process of development of bilateral relations with various states,’ the Minister said.

He added that the passing year was significant with the strengthening of the Armenian-Russian allied and strategic relations, the key points of which were the state visit of President of Russian Federation Dmitry Medvedev to Armenia, the negotiations with RA President Serzh Sargsyan, the arrangements and signed documents. The highlights of this period were the Athens statement of the foreign ministers of OSCE member-states, the statement of Presidents Medvedev, Sarkozy and Obama at the G8 summit of Muskoka, and the statement, adopted within the framework the Almaty meeting of OSCE foreign ministers by the heads of delegations of the OSCE Minsk Group co-chair states – Lavrov, Kouchner and Deputy Secretary of State Steinberg.

‘The right of peoples to self-determination, which should be applied by the expression of will of the people of the Nagorno Karabakh and has a compulsory legal force, was fixed in the latest statements,’ Edward Nalbandyan noted.

He said he had already mentioned two years ago during the meeting with students that the negotiations should be processed on the basis of Madrid principles and the 3 principles of the international law – non-use of force or threat of force, territorial integrity and self-determination. In that period Azerbaijan was even trying to deny the existence of the Madrid document. During the last two years the international community, the OSCE and the co-chairs made a slew of statements, which correspond to our position. During the last two years the negotiations were processed on the basis of the Madrid offers and principles.

‘In the statement of Almaty the co-chair countries stated that the proposed principles and points are drafted and presented as a whole piece, so one cannot give preference to any of them; this corresponds to our position,’ Edward Nalbandyan said.

He says the relations of Armenia with the United States were raised to a new level; it was highlighted with RA President’s visit to Washington, D.C., the President’s meeting with US President Barack Obama, as well as the visit of US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to Yerevan. In this period there were a variety of important developments in the Armenian-Turkish relations. The Armenian-Turkish protocols were published 6 weeks before the planned signing.

‘You know that it is not accepted in the international relations to publish documents before the signing. We published and it was made clear that the rumors that the content was somehow connected with the Nagorno Karabakh issue did not correspond to the reality. We started the process with Turkey, arranged and signed the protocols via mutual understanding. The further developments showed that the Turks could not honor and bear the responsibilities, assumed by the protocols. The Armenian side had to stop the ratification process and announced that it would be possible to advance in case the Turkish side was ready to regulate the relations without preconditions. Our steps during the whole process and after the stopping of the ratification process enjoyed the support of the international community. Armenia acted as a responsible, reliable partner and strengthened its authority in the international arena,’ Edward Nalbandyan noted.

The Minister answered the questions of the students and mentioned that Azerbaijan’s initiative on presenting the resolution at the UN General Assembly is a destructive step and it can affect the process of negotiations. He added that the majority of the UN member-states think that such issues should be discussed not at the General Assembly, but within the framework of the established format. ‘This is the reason the resolution, presented by Azerbaijan, was supported by only 39 states from the 192 ones. The majority of the supporting countries were the members of the organization of Islamic Conference,’ he said.

The Minister reminded that none of the 5 permanent members of the UN Security Council voted for the resolution.

‘Azerbaijan uses the Islamic Conference and abuses the factor of the Islamic consensus. The attempts of transmitting a religious content to such issues are quite dangerous. During our last meeting I mentioned that the diplomacy is like an icy mountain; the small part is seen, but the big one is invisible. The invisible part is the work, which must not be presented in detail. Yes we are undertaking some measures. Do you really think that the above-mentioned statements on the Nagorno Karabakh issue, which reflect the position of the international community, come from nowhere? If Azerbaijan violates the most important principle of the international law – non-use of force or threat of force – this does not imply that the international community ignores it as well. If anyone supported the position of Azerbaijan, the principle would not be mentioned in the documents on regulation of the NK issue,’ the Foreign Minister said.

The Minister says all the possible steps are being undertaken in the direction of peaceful regulation of the NK issue on the basis of norms and principles of the international law.

As to the Armenian-Turkish relations, the Minister said that according to the rumors of the Turkish side, some ‘silent diplomacy’ is currently being applied. ‘Maybe the Turks are talking to themselves silently. I can say that no any constructive step has been undertaken by the Turkish side since October 10, 2009. We will wait for the Turks to be ready. Will they really be ready? In contrast to the Turkish side, our deeds and words do not differ from each other,’ RA Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandyan said.