Senior Karabakh official visits U.S.

by Emil Sanamyan

Published: Wednesday September 29, 2010

Speaker Ghoulian (right) with Congressman Pallone on Sept. 28. The Armenian Reporter

Washington - Ashot Ghulian, Speaker of Nagorno Karabakh's Parliament, visited U.S. this week meeting with U.S. officials, Armenian American community leaders and public.

On September 28, Rep. Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-N.J.) co-chair of the Congressional Armenian Caucus, hosted a ceremony celebrating the 19th Anniversary of Independence for the Nagorno Karabakh Republic that featured a keynote address by Ghoulian.

On the Hill, Ghoulian met with Chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee Rep. Howard Berman (D-Calif.), Committee member Rep. Eliot Engel (D-N.Y.), House Foreign Appropriations subcommittee member Steve Rothman (D-N.J.) and one of two members of Armenian descent Rep. Jackie Speier (D-Calif.).

Also in Washington, Ghoulian met the State Department's envoy for Karabakh talks Ambassador Robert Bradtke and spoke with regional experts at a roundtable hosted at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

Addressing the capacity room of about 100 at the Capitol Hill event, Ghulian stressed that "like in 1991, today my people's aspiration remains unaltered - to live in its Homeland; to live in peace and dignity for the sake of security and prosperity of future generations, both of our people and of our neighbors."

In his statement Rep. Pallone noted that "despite a devastating war and an ongoing Azerbaijani blockade, the people of Nagorno Karabakh have shown they are determined to live in freedom. They have made steady progress on the path of democracy and tonight we celebrate these significant gains."

Also speaking at the event were Armenia's Ambassador to U.S. Tatoul Markarian and Armenian Church's Washington legate Archbishop Vicken Aykazian.

Accompanied by parliament member Sergei Ghazaryan and NKR's Representative in U.S. Robert Avetisyan, Ghoulian began his U.S. visit on September 25 in New York City, meeting with community leaders and giving a lecture at Fordham University.

Below is a translation of Ghoulian's remarks delivered on September 28:

"Your Eminence Archbishop Aykazian,

Dear members of Congress,

Your Excellency Ambassador Markaryan,

Dear compatriots, ladies and gentlemen:

It is an honor for me to be here, in the U.S. Congress to join my distinguished friends and colleagues in commemorating one of the main holidays of my people - the Independence Day of our Nagorno Karabakh Republic, Artsakh.

Allow me to express my profound gratitude to the Co-chairs and all members of the Congressional Armenian Caucus, as well as to the Armenian Embassy, Office of NKR here in Washington D.C. and all Armenian organizations, who facilitated this wonderful occasion.

This kind of attitude doesn't come as surprise for us. The United States is the country, which has always supported a solution to the Karabakh problem based on the free will of my people. As far back as 20 years ago. this country this body, the U.S. Congress had repeatedly appealed for a peaceful and just outcome in Karabakh, while the conflict was still at an early stage and with the Soviet government still intact.

Yet, Soviet authorities did not heed those appeals, and, moreover, turned a blind eye on Azerbaijan's attempts to force Karabakh's population off of their land.

It is unfortunate that the international community, perhaps being preoccupied by multitude of other issues such as nuclear safety and economic collapse in the new post-Soviet states, hasn't properly assessed the scale of humanitarian crisis in Nagorno Karabakh at the time.

Subsequently, the United States adopted the Section 907 of the Freedom Support Act, thus, in effect, recognizing Azerbaijan's aggression against Nagorno Karabakh, for a time depriving Baku direct financial assistance by the American government.

That decision, which was since waived but remains as law, reflects the US Government's attitude towards humanitarian issues. Freedom and dignity remain the highest values in the United States,  a country, which has been built by your freedom-loving ancestors and a country, which, due to your efforts, remains a strong global power.

I am glad that the American vision of the Nagorno Karabakh problem also proceeds from these same values. This event is another example.

In Artsakh we continue to build a democratic state. This is a free choice of our people, which was formally reiterated during the two referenda in our republic - on independence and on our country's constitution.

In the aftermath of the World War Two, when the United Nations was formed, it comprised  comprised only 51 recognized nations. Today the organization numbers almost two hundred states, established on the basis of the right for self-determination - a cornerstone of international law.

Was this not the case, we would still witness a colonial system; countries like Soviet Union and Yugoslavia would be retained (as both were founding members of the UN); many of the now independent states wouldn't appear on the world map.

And this is a natural course of human development.

Past world order was based on the principle of might makes right. Here, President Reagan's characterizing the Soviet Union as "Evil Empire" was not accidental.

One will not exaggerate to say that Nagorno Karabakh has clearly exposed the many inefficiencies and historical failure of the Soviet system.

In Artsakh, we were presented with no other option, but to make a difficult choice between deportation and self-defense. We chose the latter, and forced into a war imposed by Azerbaijan. Consequently, in 1994 the international mediators negotiated a ceasefire between Azerbaijan and Nagorno Karabakh.