Nagorno-Karabakh Republic to seek ICJ ruling over its status
Panorama.am questions Hovhannes Nikoghosyan - a Research Fellow from Yerevan-based Public Policy Institute, over the ICJ Kosovo ruling and its implications over Nagorno-Karabakh peace process.
Panorama: Mr. Nikoghosyan do you believe, at the end of the day, ICJ ruling will have its say in the Nagorno-Karabakh issue?
Nikoghosyan: Thanks for the question indeed. Well, I guess the implications should better be derived from the ruling, but most importantly – also from the proceedings. Here I want to share 2 points. Firstly, the proceedings and the statements made by different countries at ICJ make the real atmosphere of change in the international relations when it comes to the issues of territorial integrity, inviolability of frontiers and self-determination. This change is of legal nature, not political. For instance, the representative of United Kingdom said that (ICJ oral statements, para. 13-14) unlike Northern Cyprus or Palestine, the UN Security Council "had not called upon the international community not to recognize Kosovo", while UN SC Res. 541 (1983) declared the independence of Northern Cyprus as unlawful. Similarly, nor the UN SC, neither the OSCE (which is mandated as the sole mediator) has ever declared that Nagorno-Karabakh independence is unlawful, even though no state ever, including Armenia, has ever explicitly and de jure recognized the legal status of Nagorno-Karabakh. However, what we should derive from this ruling is the fact that international court declared that a unilateral declaration of secession is hence a legal norm.
Secondly, some reports and rumors have spread these days that Armenian authorities, co-signed and co-authored with NKR authorities are about to circulate a draft resolution in the UN General Assembly, asking the advisory opinion by ICJ over the legal force of the Constitutional referendum in Nagorno-Karabakh, which took place in December 2006. The only obstacle for this to happen, is the reservation made by the National Assembly of Armenia (decision N-131-1, Oct. 23, 1996) with regard to Article 66 of Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties which requires the mandatory consent of all parties to any particular case before applying to an international court or arbitration. This might be an utmost fascinating development of the peace process.