OPEN LETTER
OPEN LETTER
Hon. Vladimir Putin, President of Russian Federation
Hon. Joe Biden, President of the United States of America
Hon. Emmanuel Macron, President of the Republic of France Hon. Co-Chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group
Respected Leaders,
During the discussion, held at Valdai club on 21 October 2021, Mr Vladimir Putin, the President of Russia, referring to the settlement of the Azerbaijani-Artsakh conflict, said: “There are very simple, pragmatic things - maps, which are at the General Staff Headquarters of the Russian army. These are maps that clearly show the borders between the Soviet Union republics in the Soviet period. Based on these documents, both sides need to sit down quietly and speak to each other, there are things that also require mutual compromises."
SOVIET PERIOD MAPS CANNOT BE A BASIS BECAUSE:
1. Per the Declaration “On the Restoration of the State Independence of the Republic of Azerbaijan”, adopted on August 30, 1991, and according to the Constitutional Act of the Republic of Azerbaijan “On the Restoration of the State Independence of the Republic of Azerbaijan”, adopted on October 18, 1991, (document attached) Azerbaijan renounced its legal succession of Soviet Azerbaijan and restored an internationally unrecognized state called the Democratic Republic of Azerbaijan that existed from May 28, 1918 through April 28, 1920 and that was a state of which Artsakh had never been a part.
2. Both by the Declaration and by the Constitutional Act, renouncing the legal succession of Soviet Azerbaijan and declaring itself the successor of the existing, internationallly unrecognized Democratic Republic of Azerbaijan of 1918-1920, the Republic of Azerbaijan, considered in essence all the legal acts adopted in the Soviet period concerning Azerbaijan as invalid.
In fact, by adopting the above-mentioned documents, the Republic of Azerbaijan recognized as invalid the 1921 decision of the Caucasus Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Soviet Russia to annex Artsakh to Soviet Azerbaijan, and in
session, or put to a vote.
3. The state named Azerbaijan was established by the Ottoman authorities when the Turkish army invaded Transcaucasia on May 28, 1918. The name of a province called Azerbaijan located in the northeast of neighboring Iran was chosen as the name of the newly created state.
4. Proclaimed on May 28, 1918, the Democratic Republic of Azerbaijan, which existed until April 28, 1920, was not internationally recognized. On December 1, 1920 the League of Nations formally rejected Azerbaijan's application for membership in the League of Nations, citing the impossibility of determining Azerbaijan's exact borders because of its border disputes with neighboring countries. On December 1, 1920 the League of Nations formally rejected in writing Azerbaijan's application for membership in the League of Nations, citing that Azerbaijan had never been a state before, that it had inappropriately took the name of the neighboring Persian province and made it its own state name, and that it was impossible to determine Azerbaijan's exact borders due to its border disputes with the neighboring countries (document attached).
CONCERNING THE SOVIET PERIOD:
1. On November 30, 1920, by the decision of the Revolutionary Committee of the Soviet Socialist Republic of Azerbaijan, Nagorno Karabakh was declared part of the Soviet Socialist Republic of Armenia.
2. Alexander Myasnikyan, the Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars of Soviet Armenia, by a decree adopted on June 12, 1921, declared Nagorno-Karabakh, which was
3. On November 30, 1920 by the decision of the Revolutionary Committee of the Soviet Socialist Republic of Azerbaijan Artsakh, which was considered as a part of the Soviet Socialist Republic of Armenia and as an integral part of Soviet Armenia according to the June 12, 192
forcibly annexed to Soviet Azerbaijan without taking into account the will of the people of Artsakh based on the July 5, 1921 illegal decision of the Caucasus Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Soviet Russia that did not have a right to resolve territorial disputes, the decision that was not discussed or put to a vote and therefore was not actually legally adopted.
4. The government of Soviet Azerbaijan, itself violating the 1921 illegal decision of the Caucasus Bureau, which was not discussed or put to a vote at the July 5 session of the Bureau, adopted a so called autonomous region only in one part of the Nagorno Karabakh territory, deliberately leaving outside the bo -Karabakh Autonomous the Shahumyan region of the current Artsakh Republic (the Karvachar region of the former Azerbaijani SSR, currently occupied by Azerbaijan), the Kashatagh region of the current Artsakh Republic (the Lachin region of the former Azerbaijani SSR, currently occupied by Azerbaijan), Kovsakan, now part of the Kashatagh region of the Artsakh Republic (the Zangelan region of the former Azerbaijani SSR, currently occupied by Azerbaijan), Akna, now part of the Askeran region of the Artsakh Republic (the Aghdam region of the former Azerbaijani SSR, currently occupied by Azerbaijan), Kashunik (now the Kubatlu region of the former Azerbaijani SSR, currently occupied by Azerbaijan), present-day Jrakan in the Hadrut region of the Artsakh Republic (the Jabrayil region of the former Azerbaijani SSR, currently occupied by Azerbaijan), etc.
5. The government of Soviet Azerbaijan without taking into account the opinion of the people of Artsakh by the decree of July 7, 1923 illegally incorporated most of the northern, southern, eastern and western parts of the territory of Artsakh into the territory of Soviet Azerbaijan.
6. Grossly violating the principles of non-use of force or threat of force of the Helsinki Final Act on peaceful settlement of disputes, as a result of the second aggression unleashed by mercenary terrorists against the Artsakh Republic on September 27, 2020, Azerbaijan now occupied about 75% of the constitutionally enshrined territory of the Artsakh Republic.
7. As a result of the three aggression wars unleashed against the Artsakh Republic, Azerbaijan in total occupied approximately 84% of the constitutional territory of the Artsakh Republic.
THE UN HAS NOT DISCUSSED IN ANY FORMAT THE ISSUES OF RECOGNITION OF THE BORDERS OF THE REPUBLIC OF AZERBAIJAN OR ITS TERRITORIAL INTEGRITY
1. Under the Charter of the United Nations, the rules of procedure of the UN General
Assembly and the Security Council, the United Nations, unlike the now non-existent League of Nations, has no authority to recognize the borders of a State or the territorial integrity of a State.
2. Examination of all the documents adopted by Azerbaijan on the accession of Azerbaijan to the UN allows us to assert that the UN has not discussed any issue recognizing the borders of the Republic of Azerbaijan or its territorial integrity.
3. In his address to the Secretary-General of the United Nations on January 14, 1992, when informing the UN regarding the restoration of independence lost in April of 1920, the President of Azerbaijan in fact informed the world community that Azerbaijan has restored an internationally unrecognized state, in which Artsakh has never had any status.
4. According to the January 14, 1992 application of the President of Azerbaijan addressed to the Secretary-General of the United Nations for the purpose of accession to the United Nations and according to the General Assembly March 2, 1992 resolution to accept Azerbaijan as a member of the UN, the UN accepted Azerbaijan as a member without the Artsakh Republic.
TERRITORIAL CLAIMS OF AZERBAIJAN TO THE REPUBLIC OF ARTSAKH HAVE NO HISTORICAL OR LEGAL BASIS.
ARTSAKH HAS NEVER BEEN AND WILL NEVER BE A PART OF AZERBAIJAN.
Afterword
Respected Presidents of the USA, Russia, France and Co-Chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group, I turn to you on behalf of Armenian people, not only those living in the Republics of Armenia and Artsakh, but from all over the world. I receive many appeals from Armenians all over the world and therefore I reserve the right to address you on behalf of them and myself. All Armenians of the world are deeply concerned about the upcoming procedure of putting into circulation certain documents to be further signed by the parties of the conflict. No matter how the governments of Armenia and Artsakh act, ordinary Armenian people will never accept and will not recognize the borders of a hostile artificial state (like the occupant Azerbaijan), and moreover, will never accept the unjust peace, which was not chosen but forced on them by certain powers.
Your sincerely,
Stepan Hasan-Jalalyan,
Political Scientist
4 November 2021
