White House Releases Details of Armenia Azerbaijan Settlement

The principles look fair for Armenia and Azerbaijan. However, one thing is missing. While the principles call for a "legally binding expression of will" to determine the final legal status of the Nagorno Karabakh Republic, the question of who's will is very important here.

The negotiators of Armenia have to make sure that the details of where and how the expression of will is conducted are clearly written in the legally binding document. No body wants to be surprised if one day Azerbaijan says that the "expression of will" has to be conducted throughout Azerbaijan, while everyone is assuming that the expression of will or a referendum is to be conducted in the territory of Nagorno Karabakh Republic. This will prevent a future possible conflict and help the people of the three countries to focus on peace building and advancing the prosperity of the region.

The document should clearly say that the "expression of will" is to be conducted only within the boundaries of Nagorno Karabakh's territory and not throughout Azerbaijan. I write these lines because in the past Azerbaijan has signaled that the referendum can be conducted in the entire Azerbaijan and the will of Azerbaijan's population must be taken into consideration.

Azerbaijan should realistically come to the understanding that it can never bring Nagorno Karabakh back to under it's rule or it's territorial integrity. Caucasian countries should wake up to a new reality of a new republic in the region as the European countries did with Kosovo. And this approach brought peace in the Balkans helping everyone. The recognition of the Independence of Nagorno Karabakh Republic is inevitable.

The basic principles of Nagorno Karabakh resolution released by the White House.

The Basic Principles reflect a reasonable compromise based on the Helsinki Final Act principles of Non-Use of Force, Territorial Integrity, and the Equal Rights and Self-Determination of Peoples.

The Basic Principles among other things call for:

• return of the territories surrounding Nagorno-Karabakh to Azerbaijani control

• an interim status for Nagorno-Karabakh providing guarantees for security and self-governance,

• a corridor linking Armenia to Nagorno-Karabakh;

• future determination of the final legal status of Nagorno-Karabakh through a legally binding expression of will;

• the right of all internally displaced persons and refugees to return to their former places of residence; and

• international security guarantees that would include a peacekeeping operation.

The endorsement of these Basic Principles by Armenia and Azerbaijan will allow the drafting of a comprehensive settlement to ensure a future of peace, stability, and prosperity for Armenia and Azerbaijan and the broader region.

Again, these as the basic principles, but the main task of the negotiators and the mediators is to delineate in details the exact nature of the "expression of will" in terms of location and time if the final peace between Armenia and Azerbaijan is to be achieved. Otherwise, this can become another frozen conflict, which the latest Georgian events showed that frozen conflicts do not equal to peace.

Written by Armen Hareyan

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