The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Armenia has responded to the statement of the Turkish foreign ministry regarding the elections taking place in Artsakh.
“The statement of Turkey’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs regarding the elections taking place in Nagorno-Karabakh is yet another expression of that country’s hostile policy toward the Armenian people.
Remaining faithful to its traditional position of selective interpretation of international documents, Turkey, on the one hand, invokes the resolutions of the UN Security Council, and on the other hand, disregards the call of the latter, addressed directly to the countries of the region, to refrain from any hostile actions within the framework of the Karabakh conflict. Meanwhile, the same Turkey has for decades subjected the Republic of Armenia to a land blockade and has supported the hostile and brutal actions unleashed against the people of Artsakh, including in April 2016.
Equally groundless is the invocation by Turkey’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the principles of the OSCE (Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe) and the Minsk Process. We recall that the decision of the OSCE/CSCE (Conference on Security and Co-operation in Europe) of 24 March 1992, which laid the foundation of the Minsk Process, refers to the elected representatives of Nagorno-Karabakh as participants in that process. In order to have elected representatives, one must have elections, and from that standpoint, the elections to be held in Artsakh not only do not contradict, but derive from the logic of peaceful settlement and the documents that laid its foundation.
Turkey’s attempts to appear in the role of defender of international law, and its calls to the international community, are more than bankrupt, in light of that country’s continued encroachments upon the rights of peoples and the territorial integrity of neighbouring countries, and its implementation of a hostile policy that tramples upon the norms of international law and democracy”
