Nagorno-Karabagh: Military Balance Between Armenia & Azerbaijan

[Federate]

Re: Nagorno-Karabagh: Military Balance Between Armenia & Azerbaijan

Even minor concession in Karabakh issue will whip the opponent to claim more
03.12.2008 16:24 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Pursuing the soviet era policy, Azerbaijan will not amend its approach to the Nagorno Karabakh conflict. It offers NKR and Armenia to reconcile themselves to this position which has become a part of the state ideology, expert Hrachya Arzumanyan writes in “Sobering up” article obtained by PanARMENIAN.Net.

“An entire generation in Azerbaijan was reared on hatred against all Armenian and on a fanatic belief that Karabakh should be regained at any price. If diplomatic efforts don’t work, the problem will be resolved by use of force… The only guarantor of the Armenian people is the army and the defense system of the Armenian states. Even minor concession in the Karabakh issue will whip the opponent to claim more,” the article says.

http://www.panarmenian.net/news/eng/?nid=27894

[Federate]

Re: Nagorno-Karabagh: Military Balance Between Armenia & Azerbaijan

So what does everyone think of this new referendum idea?

On a side note, I bolded that IDIOTIC quote, probably the worst thing Serge Sargsyan has said in his career as defense minister. He essentially layed the foundation to handing over Agdam, which is where the ancient city of Tigranakert is (not the one in Western Armenia), on a silver platter.
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Referendum for Referendum: Law amended to “engage public opinion”, but Karabakh is on the minds of many


“Aghdam is my Homeland!”, “Aghdam – Tigranakert: the Capital of Armenian Culture” – read recently posted leaflets in Yerevan. The hanging of such leaflets is one of the forms of protest against a possible resolution of the Karabakh problem by way of holding a referendum. (Still in March 2005, current President Serzh Sargsyan, then defense minister, stated that “Aghdam has never been our homeland.”)

On December 3, Armenia’s National Assembly approved in the first reading amendments to the Law on Referendum. The document was supported by 88 lawmakers, with 7 voting against and 2 abstaining.

Under these government-drafted legislative amendments, a referendum can be held upon the initiative of the government and with consent of the president in order to gauge public opinion regarding major issues of state life. So far, the right to initiate a referendum with a legally binding outcome has belonged to the president and the National Assembly.

Justice Minister Gevorg Danielyan, presenting the bill, said such legislative amendments would facilitate the exposure of public opinion on major issues of state life by means of participation of the public in political decision making.

The opposition Heritage faction and ex-parliament speaker Tigran Torosyan, currently not affiliated with any faction, opposed the bill. The deputies who voted against the bill expressed confidence that the proposal on changes in the Law on Referendum pursue the goal of allowing the government to take the Karabakh issue, in the event of its possible solution, to a referendum.

The issue of such a referendum was reportedly addressed during a Sargsyan-initiated meeting with leaders of about five dozen political parties of Armenia that was held behind closed doors last month.

Danielyan said that the results of the referendum initiated by the government will be nonbinding and would not have any legal consequences. It was after this explanation that some analysts voiced opinions that under this notion one should understand a “plebiscite” rather than a “referendum”.

The difference between a plebiscite and a referendum is that its results are not a ground for adopting a law, while a referendum implies a mandatory legislative decision based on its outcome. In international relations, it is more often applied while alienating or annexing foreign territories to determine the expression of will by people about its state belonging. In all likelihood, the “Fair and Balanced Basic Principles of Peaceful Settlement of the Conflict” imply the holding of a plebiscite in Nagorno-Karabakh.

During a decade and a half of the new Armenian independence, the republic’s parliament has adopted several hundred different laws the overwhelming majority of which have ignored the so-called “public-political control”. However, this one has been a different case – the peculiarity of the situation is that Armenian public opinion indeed links the very fact of the discussion of such a bill in parliament with the prospects of a speedy resolution of the Karabakh problem.

Still in 2006, the cochairmen of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe’s (OSCE) Minsk Group stated that “for determining the final legal status of Nagorno-Karabakh, a referendum or a general vote is planned for some indefinite future date.” The sides then pledged to continue negotiations for determining the terms and format of this referendum.

This was also a subject of earlier discussions (“Moscow agreements”), and it was assumed that a referendum would be held 10-15 years after the start of the implementation of the first stage of the Karabakh settlement.

In one way or another, public opinion in Armenia considers the discussion in the Armenian parliament of such a bill applicable to Armenia in the context of the Karabakh problem.

(Some opponents of the bill have speculated that this way the Sargsyan administration would seek to partially lay the responsibility for the ultimate Karabakh solution on the people; others point at the lack of a track record of holding free and fair electoral and referendum processes in Armenia, which would also question the credibility of any referendum on Karabakh in Armenia; yet others point out that despite the declared nonbinding nature of such a referendum on Karabakh, the very fact of its holding in Armenia would essentially infringe upon Karabakh’s right to self-determination).

http://armenianow.com/?action=viewArticle&AID=3427&CID=3284&IID=1212&lng=eng

[Armanen]

Re: Nagorno-Karabagh: Military Balance Between Armenia & Azerbaijan

I think it's good in so far as it allows the government to get a good idea of what the population believes should be done on major issues, especially Artsakh. It's non-binding which makes it more of an official 'poll' rather than a true referendum. All in all the authorities better not mess up either on the foreign/diplomatic sector or the domestic one because both cases there will be hell to pay.

[gmd]

Re: Nagorno-Karabagh: Military Balance Between Armenia & Azerbaijan

I hope that Sargysyan made a blunder and was not laying the ground work for handing over territories.

[truAnatolian]

Re: Nagorno-Karabagh: Military Balance Between Armenia & Azerbaijan

We should have our own poll....
Seriously, what do you guys think........

How many are against any consentions at all?
How many agree with a compromised deal?

[jgk3]

Re: Nagorno-Karabagh: Military Balance Between Armenia & Azerbaijan

I like the status quo of the inconclusive territory disputes, w/ Armenian occupation of Artsakh and its periphery.

Armenia is being played in order to keep Aliyev's behavior in check with Russian interests. At least for the time being, I'm not too worried because Aliyev's war rhetoric is not really getting him anywhere, other than perhaps not being ousted from office by his own people.

[Muhaha]

Re: Nagorno-Karabagh: Military Balance Between Armenia & Azerbaijan

We should have our own poll....
Seriously, what do you guys think........

How many are against any consentions at all?
How many agree with a compromised deal?

Giving up anything will be disastrous. There is no way Azerbaijan isn't going to ask for more if an inch is given to them. Obviously, they won't do it immediately. They'll wait a couple of years and then claim the lands Armenia retained was 'given' away and that the Azeri Army should get it back. Something along those lines.

[SoyElTurco]

Re: Nagorno-Karabagh: Military Balance Between Armenia & Azerbaijan

when all the oil fields in kazakhstan, the caspian and middle east dry up, is Russia gonna give a crap about the caucus along with all of its petty conflicts?

[seruven]

Re: Nagorno-Karabagh: Military Balance Between Armenia & Azerbaijan

@SoyElTurco
when all the oil & natural gas fields in Russia dry up, is the rest of the world gonna give a crap about Russia along with all of its petty conflicts?

[skhara]

Re: Nagorno-Karabagh: Military Balance Between Armenia & Azerbaijan

when all the oil fields in kazakhstan, the caspian and middle east dry up, is Russia gonna give a crap about the caucus along with all of its petty conflicts?

Well Czarist Russia fought quite viciously with you turks, Persians, and the north Caucasian muslim tribes for many years to secure the Caucasus.