Azerbaijan

After the Armenia-Azerbaijan, Nagorno-Karabakh conflict started, this problem did not draw the attention of the international community for a long time. The first reason of this was that at the initial stage when, the conflict started, the world community was not interested in its elimination. This problem was one of the many factors which speeded up the collapse process of the USSR, and its elimination could impede the destructive processes going on inside the Soviet Union.

Armenians had conducted a serious campaign for getting support of the international community even before the conflict started. Here the opportunities of the Armenian lobby were used extensively as well. It is enough to cite just one fact that today there are very warm relations between the USA Congress, which has opportunities to control actually the social-political and economic processes going on in the world directly, and the Armenian lobby. The same words can be said as well about the French Senate.

Already in 1992 the Armenian armed units had sufficiently expanded the scope of their military operations targeted at occupation of our republic's territories. However, not a single international organization gave an objective assessment of these occupational actions, which were going on in front of everybody and violated international legal norms in a rude way. True, at different times certain resolutions, statements of UN, OSCE and the European Union concerning this issue appeared, but those documents did not assess accurately the true reasons of the conflict, did not put any difference between the aggressor party and the party that was subject to aggression.

In 1991, after declaring its independence, the Azerbaijan Republic addressed all the international

organizations, including the UN and world states, concerning this. That address showed that the principles of democracy, liberty and equality are the main strategic ways of the republic and expressed the country's desire to be accepted to the UN. In March 1992, Azerbaijan was accepted to the UN membership. In March the same year, Permanent Representation of Azerbaijan at UN opened in New York.

Thereafter, Azerbaijan turned to the UN asking it to express its attitude toward the aggressive policy of

Armenia and prevent this country's aggressive actions. A UN delegation paid a visit to the region based on this address and gave appropriate information concerning this to the UN General Secretary. The UN General Secretary stated it supports the efforts of the CSCE (Conference for Security & Cooperation in Europe - since January 1995 OSCE - Organization for Security & Cooperation in Europe) and is ready to render assistance to this organization for achieving the appropriate results. This was already the first symptom of the international community's cold attitude to the issue.

In 1992 the occupation of Shusha made Azerbaijan turn to the UN once again. On May 12 the Security

Council of UN sufficed by discussing the Nagorno-Karabakh problem and issuing a statement.  The statement was spread on behalf of the chairman of the Security Council. The statement expressed anxiety about the worsening situation in Nagorno-Karabakh and the necessity of rendering urgent assistance to the internally displaced persons. The document called the parties concerned to put an end to the violence and invited them to obey the provisions of the UN Charter. "The Members of the Security Council call upon all concerned to take all steps necessary to bring the violence to an end, to facilitate the work of the Secretary General's mission and to ensure the safety of its personnel. They recall the statements made on their behalf by the President of the Council on 29 January (S/23496) and 14 February 1992 (S/23597) on the admission respectively of Armenia and Azerbaijan to the United Nations, in particular the reference to the Charter principles relating to the peaceful settlement of disputes and non-use of force", - said the document. This displayed that the statement is in fact a common document not expressing anything about the real essence of the conflict. The only positive step of the UN Security Council was that the letter of the Permanent Representation of Azerbaijan to the chairman of the Security Council was spread as the official document of the latter. This letter assessed the military operations conducted by Armenia as an effort to violate the territorial integrity of a sovereign state. 

Naturally, Armenia was also trying to take alternative steps. Because of this, in August 1992 a new meeting of the UN Security Council was held based on Armenia's appeal, and a new statement of the Security Council chairman was spread. This document also called the parties concerned for a ceasefire and expressed UN's deep concern at the deterioration of the situation.

In October 1992, the chairman of the UN Security Council accepted one more statement. However, this document did not differ at all from the previous ones either for its content or for its political essence. It also expressed deep concern at the grave situation, as well as the loss of human life, and stated that it supports the CSCE's activity concerning the settlement of the conflict. Noting the necessity of an urgent negotiation process for regulation of the problem, the Security Council invited the parties to take concrete steps in this direction.

In 1993, one more region of Azerbaijan, Kalbajar, was occupied by Armenians. Azerbaijan appealed to the UN regarding this and asked it to assess the aggressor's actions. On April 6, the statement of the UN

Security Council was accepted. The statement expressed deep concern at the deterioration of the tension between Armenia and Azerbaijan and invasion of Kalbajar by "local Armenian forces". The statement once more reaffirmed the principle of sovereignty and territorial integrity of all the states and once again

expressed its support for the CSCE peace process. However, this statement did not assess the problem properly. The point is that the attitude to Armenia's invasive policy was not reflected in the document and it stressed that ostensibly the "local Armenians" occupied Kalbajar. Let us note that this statement was mainly based on the information provided by Armenia. Armenia refuted the facts put down by Azerbaijan concerning participation in the occupation of Kalbajar and tried to prove that "local Armenians" were to

blame in the region's occupation.

The same year, on April 30, the UN Security Council adopted its first resolution regarding the Armenia-Azerbaijan, Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. This document titled "United Nations Security Council resolution 822'" was prepared with reference to the statements the chairman of the Security Council had given on January 29 and April 6, 1993. The resolution pointed out that stability and public order in the region is under threat, expressed grave concern at the displacement of a large number of civilians and the

humanitarian emergency in the region. UN SC demanded the immediate cessation of all hostilities and hostile acts with a view to establishing a durable ceasefire as well as immediate withdrawal of all occupying forces from Kalbajar district and other recently occupied areas of Azerbaijan. "Recalling the statements of the President of the Security Council of 29 January 1993 (S/25199) and of 6 April 1993 (S/25539) concerning the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, Taking note of the report of the Secretary-General dated 14 April 1993 (S/25600), Expressing its serious concern at the deterioration of the relations between the Republic of Armenia and the Republic of Azerbaijan, Noting with alarm the escalation in armed hostilities and, in particular, the latest invasion of the Kalbajar district of the Republic of Azerbaijan by local Armenian forces, Concerned that this situation endangers peace and security in the region, Expressing grave concern at the displacement of a large number of civilians and the humanitarian

emergency in the region, in particular in the Kalbajar district,  

Reaffirming the respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity of all States in the region, Reaffirming also the inviolability of international borders and the inadmissibility of the use of force for the acquisition of territory,

Expressing its support for the peace process being pursued within the framework of the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe and deeply concerned at the disruptive effect that the escalation m armed hostilities can have on that process,

1) Demands the immediate cessation of all hostilities and hostile acts with a view to establishing a durable cease-fire, as well as immediate Withdrawal of all occupying forces from the Kalbajar district and other recently occupied areas of Azerbaijan; 

2) Urges the parties concerned immediately to resume negotiations for the resolution of the conflict within the framework of the peace process of the Minsk Group of the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe and refrain from any action that will obstruct a peaceful solution of the problem", - said the resolution.

However, this resolution was in fact not powerful enough to stimulate the achievement of peace in the region. First because the resolution of the UN Security Council was loaded with only general words and did not serve the purpose of giving any concrete assessment to the issue. On the other hand, the resolution did not reflect implementation mechanisms of the provisions contained in it. Though the document confirmed the fact that Azerbaijan territories have been invaded, it did not specify who had done it and stressed that ostensibly the "local Armenians" had achieved the military operations. This, surely, did not provide an opportunity to define the aggressive party and explain concrete ways for settlement of the conflict.

On July 23, 1993, the Armenian armed units occupied Aghdam region of Azerbaijan. Let us note that this already proved that Armenia does not care at all about the resolution adopted by the UN Security Council. At the end of July, the UN Security Council held a meeting and adopted the Resolution 853

concerning the Armenia-Azerbaijan, Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. This resolution also demands the withdrawal of all the occupying forces from all the occupied areas of Azerbaijan, including Aghdam. The resolution expressed once again its grave concern at the displacement of large number of civilians in the Azerbaijan Republic and demanded the parties concerned to achieve a ceasefire in order to stop the conflict.

The Security Council reaffirmed once again the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Azerbaijan Republic and all other states in the region and endorsed the continuing efforts by the Minsk Group of the CSCE to achieve a peaceful solution. Meanwhile, the document particularly noted the deterioration of the relations between Armenia and Azerbaijan and the fact that some territories of Azerbaijan have been occupied, and as well concerned that this situation endangers peace and security in the region. Though in general, Resolution 853 of the UN Security Council looks more objective for some features than Resolution 822, here the issue was not accurately assessed as well because the Security Council did not name the aggressor, and preferred only sufficing with the "local Armenians" phrase, while already everybody knew who the aggressor was.

And now only one thing was left to do - to confirm this officially. However, the UN Security Council did not take this step.

In August 1993 after Armenia intensified its military operations in order to occupy the Fizuli region of Azerbaijan, anew statement of the UN Security Council was spread. The statement confirmed the fact of the occupation of Azerbaijan territories, stressed that Nagorno-Karabakh is an integral part of Azerbaijan, and expressed serious concern at the tensions in the region.

The document stated that UN Security Council supports the settlement of the issue within the framework of CSCE, and at the same time is sure of the necessity that the parties themselves should take appropriate measures in order to eliminate the conflict. 

The Statement reflected as well the necessity of the conflict parties to accept the specified version of the "Timetable of Urgent Steps" to implement UN Security Council resolutions 822 and 853. However, this Statement did not differ much from the previous documents either because it did not confess the fact that Armenia is the aggressive party, and the conflict was characterized as a problem between the Armenians living in the Nagorno-Karabakh region of Azerbaijan and Azerbaijan.

This indefinite attitude created a favorable condition for the expansion of Armenia's aggressive operations. Armenians made use of the fact that the international union did not display an objective reaction to the events, and they achieved new aggression acts by invading Azerbaijan territories.

Thus, Fizuli and Jabrayil regions were occupied as well. Notwithstanding that an agreement on ceasefire was achieved in August 1993, Armenians did not obey this and invaded Gubadli as well.

Azerbaijan had to turn to the UN Security Council once more. This appeal reflected that Azerbaijan does not agree with the "Renewed Timetable of Urgent Steps" prepared by the Minsk group. On October 14, 1993 the UN Security Council once again put the Nagorno-Karabakh problem to discussion and adopted the Resolution 874. This Resolution backed the "Renewed Timetable of Urgent Steps" prepared by the Minsk group and stated that it is possible to regulate the conflict based on this plan.

This Resolution did not differ from the previous ones for its essence either. It also expressed concern at tensions between Armenia and Azerbaijan, reinforcement of the military operations in the front region, the deaths of many people, and occupation of Azerbaijan territories. It supported the CSCE's efforts in the direction of the elimination of the conflict and confirmed once more the inviolability of states' territorial integrity. However, meanwhile, it again did not name the aggressor party and the party subject to aggression, and stressed that the conflict is characterized only as a problem between the Armenians of the Nagorno-Karabakh region of Azerbaijan and Azerbaijan itself. On the other hand, interestingly, Resolution 874 stated nothing about the regions of Azerbaijan, which were occupied recently, while the previous resolutions contained concrete names of the occupied territories. 

In October 1993, Armenia's indifference to the documents adopted by the international organizations displayed itself even more openly. The Armenian armed forces occupied Zangilan region of Azerbaijan when the CSCE chairman was on a visit to the region. This was consequently a following event expressing the necessity of the international community's objective assessment to the conflict.

On November 11, 1993, pursuant to an appeal by Azerbaijan, the UN Security Council put the situation linked with the continuation of the conflict again to discussion and adopted Resolution 884. The resolution expressed serious concern at the occupation of Zangilan region and the city of Horadiz of Azerbaijan and demanded withdrawal of the occupying forces from these territories. Naturally, this resolution was not implemented. Let us note that principally, the fore mentioned document again did not differ at all from the previous resolutions of the UN SC. None of these resolutions could reflect fully the requirements of the respective Charter of UN. The point is that for some reasons the documents adopted by the UN forgot about the significant principles of international law and did not determine any concrete mechanism for punishment of the aggressor. While this organization, which has certain experience in conflict settlement, had quite extensive opportunities to put an end to the aggressive policy, Armenia was working against Azerbaijan and the achievement of true and stable peace in the region.