The recent war in Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) proved once again that the Armenians of Artsakh are doomed if Nagorno-Karabakh becomes part of Azerbaijan. After the war unleashed by Baku and in the conditions when many Armenians are simply being held hostage in Azerbaijan, and the hatred of Armenians reaches the scale of creating a ‘trophy park’, the Armenian side considers it vital to circulate the idea of ‘secession for salvation’.
The use of the resolution to ensure the physical security of Armenians living in Artsakh and to clarify the status of Artsakh has precedents, the most famous example being Kosovo.
During the hottest days of the 44-day war, the Geneva city council recognized the right of the Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh to self-determination as the only guarantee of their security.
A few days later, Prime Minister Pashinyan spoke about the Swiss city resolution in an interview with a Swiss TV channel.
“The city council adopted a very symbolic resolution stating that the idea of ‘secession for salvation’ could be applied in Nagorno-Karabakh. My expectation from the international community is clear: apply the principle of ‘secession for salvation’,” says Nikol Pashinyan, Prime Minister of the Republic of Armenia.
“From all the pulpits, from all possible places, we must draw everyone’s attention to the fact that a museum of war sufferings and victims can be opened in a country that is the biggest, most powerful manifestation of Armenian hatred and hatred. And this is the greatest basis for us to show the international community the applicability of the "secession for salvation" principle to Nagorno-Karabakh, which should be at the core of our further negotiation process,” Pashinyan said.
The term ‘secession for salvation’ is not new in international law. Yeghishe Kirakosyan, Armenia’s representative at the ECHR, a specialist in international law, explains. It is first of all about the private manifestation of the realization of the right of peoples to self-determination. From the very beginning of the Karabakh movement, the concept of ‘secession for salvation’ may have been in a slightly different formulation, but it was in circulation. Kirakosyan presents when its use becomes necessary.
“The idea of ‘Separation for Salvation’ or ‘Remedial Secession’ appears when a specific group of people, being the territory or unit of a state, is deprived or regularly suffers deprivations, gross violations of the law, violations of right or is on the verge of extinction or is under it,” says Yeghishe Kirakosyan, Representative of the Republic of Armenia to the European Court of Human Rights, Specialist in International Law.
The concept of ‘secession for salvation’ is not a purely legal form on paper, it has been used several times successfully in Bangladesh, South Sudan, and perhaps the most obvious example in Kosovo, with which the Artsakh conflict is often compared. Artak Khachatryan, who has studied the Kosovo conflict for many years, notes that it is different from the Karabakh conflict, but there are similarities.
“Experience shows that both Kosovo Albanians and Artsakh Armenians were under threat of physical and cultural extermination, which makes the application of the ‘secession for salvation’ doctrine even more urgent,” says ethnographer Artak Khachatryan.
The provision of physical security is the cornerstone of the concept of ‘cessation for salvation’. For decades, anti-Armenian sentiment in Azerbaijan has been one of the cornerstones of state policy. After the war, it would be logical for the belligerent rhetoric, the threats to exterminate the Armenians to stop, especially since the military-political leadership of Baku said that hostility should be left in the past. However this time the word of hatred took on a new, unimaginable form – ‘trophy park’, which the civilized world renamed ‘Hate Park’.
“It is obvious that all these factors, which are presented in a group, especially the accumulated hate experience of recent decades, to build an anti-Armenian policy and atmosphere in Azerbaijan, prove that existence within Azerbaijan is simply impossible,” says Yeghishe Kirakosyan.
In international legal processes, such as the independence of states, the political component cannot be ignored. According to experts, success can be expected when we can combine our legal victories with political realities.
“The interest of big powers and international players in the issue is important here,” says Artak Khachatryan.
“The political component is always big, but it does not cancel the legal component, because I think in our case the legal component is aggravated because of the acute situation, and I think it creates additional arguments for this concept in political terms,” says Yeghishe Kirakosyan.
Baku opposes these and other options for a settlement, denying even the existing format, the mediating role of the OSCE Minsk Group. Only after the relevant statements of the Co-Chairs did Baku seem to understand whether the Minsk Group would continue to operate, at least at this stage. Now, however, Azerbaijan has a new target - France. Baku insists that even if they agree to resume talks, Paris, as they call it, a pro-Armenian international center, should be expelled from the Minsk Group. Paris understands well the reason for Baku’s stubbornness.
“France must retain its role in the Minsk Group Co-Chairs. It is obvious that Azerbaijan is making such a statement in defense of Turkey,” says Marguerite Depre-Odiber, Member of the French National Assembly.
The fact that the conflict has not been resolved yet is evidenced by the recent Putin-Macron telephone conversation. The Élysée Palace said that the leaders of France and Russia agreed to resume efforts to resolve the conflict within the framework of the Minsk Group, promising to present concrete initiatives in this direction in the coming days.
