November 9, 2007 - 18:33 AMT
NKR MFA: Terry Davis follows political interests and neglects human rights
"There is a really multiparameter difference between the situation in Karabakh and the situation in Kosovo," Nagorno Karabakh Foreign Minister Georgy Petrossian said when commenting statements Secretary General Terry made in Yerevan during a joint news conference with the Armenian Foreign Minister.

"But Kosovo's aspiration to become a full-fledged subject of the international law as an independent state is similar to that of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic. Mr. Davis should know that the leadership of Kosovo's Temporary Institution of Self-government, which was founded in the region by the UN temporary administration to realize legislative, executive and judicial power, had stated repeatedly that Kosovo's independence was indisputable," he said.

"The absence of any external government over Karabakh is a positive sign for the NKR, because, per se, it means recognition of the high self-organization of the Karabakh people, who is able to carry out effective governance, to conduct foreign policy and provide its own security via elected authorities and without external assistance."

"As to the inability of the NKR people to go to the European Court of Human Rights, this situation exists through Azerbaijan's fault and by tacit consent of international organizations urged to protect human rights irrespective of the status of the territory where they live. Such a stance of international organizations points to the fact that they are guided by political interests rather than the ideals of protecting human rights."

"With his statements Mr. Davis demonstrated his slighting attitude not so much to concrete political processes in the NKR as to the institution of elections in general. I am hopeful that the Council of Europe does not share Mr. Davis's attitude to the ideals of democracy, which underlay this organization. Otherwise, it will mean that the Council of Europe has exhausted itself as an organization urged to propagate ideals and principles of pluralistic democracy and protect human rights," the Minister said, NKR MFA press office reported.