A ballot box in Artsakh

The foreign ministries of Artsakh and Armenia separately commented on official Ankara’s brazen announcement calling Tuesday’s presidential and parliamentary elections in Artsakh “a flagrant violation of international law” and a breach of Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity. The Turkish foreign ministry said Ankara did not recognize the elections.

“The statement by the Foreign Ministry of Turkey on the presidential and parliamentary elections in the Republic of Artsakh is another example of the biased and destructive position of Ankara,” said a statement by Artsakh’s foreign ministry, which issued its position in response to a reporter’s question.

“Turkey’s opinion on this issue fully coincides with the viewpoint of Azerbaijan. By unconditionally supporting Azerbaijan and making statements that undermine efforts of the international mediators, the Turkish side causes serious damage to the Azerbaijan-Karabakh conflict peace process,” added the Artsakh foreign ministry.

“Ankara’s stance obviously contradicts the position of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairmen who are mandated by the international community for implementing a mediation mission on the settlement of the Azerbaijan-Karabakh conflict,” explained the Artsakh foreign ministry citing statement by the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairmen on Artsakh election in 2012 and 2015, at which time they “acknowledge the need for the de facto authorities in Nagorno Karabakh to try to organize democratically the public life of their population with such a procedure,” as well as “recognize the role of the people of Nagorno Karabakh in deciding their future.”

“Ankara’s destructive policy on the issue of the Azerbaijan-Karabakh conflict once again reaffirms the absolute impracticality of Turkey’s membership in the OSCE Minsk Group,” stressed the Artsakh foreign ministry.

In a separate statement, Armenia’s foreign ministry said the statement by official Ankara was “yet another expression of Turkey’s hostile policy toward the Armenian people.”

“In line with its traditional method of selective interpretation of international documents, on one hand Turkey invokes the relevant UN Security resolutions and on the other hand ignores their call to refrain from any hostile actions in the context of Nagorno Karabakh conflict explicitly addressed to the states in the region. While it is Turkey that has been imposing land blockade on the Republic of Armenia for decades and supporting aggressive and atrocious actions unleashed against the people of Artsakh, including in April 2016,” said Armenia’s foreign ministry.

“The reference of Turkey’s Foreign Ministry to the OSCE principles and the Minsk Process is equally groundless. We recall that the OSCE/CSCE decision of March 24, 1992, which laid a foundation for the Minsk Process, refers to the elected representatives of Nagorno Karabakh as a participant in the process. Elections must be held to have elected representatives, and from this viewpoint, elections conducted in Artsakh don’t contradict, but derive from the logic and fundamental documents of peaceful process,” explained Armenia’s foreign ministry.

“Turkey’s attempts to act as an international guardian of human rights and its appeals to the international community are more than bankrupted in the light of its constant violations of the rights of peoples and territorial integrity of its neighbors and its aggressive policy which breaches the norms of international law and democracy,” said the Armenian foreign ministry.