Khazar Ibrahim offers peculiar explanation of right of nations to self-determination

PanARMENIAN.Net - Azerbaijan recognizes the right of nations to self-determination, Khazar Ibrahim, a spokesman of the Azeri Foreign Ministry said when commenting on OSCE MG U.S. Co-chair that the resolution of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict should include both the principle of territorial integrity and the right of nations to self-determination.



At that he claimed that self-determination is possible "only in the framework of Azerbaijan's territorial integrity." "The principle of self-determination envisages a certain status which doesn't exceed territorial integrity and sovereignty of states," Ibrahim said.



Self-determination is defined as free choice of one's own acts without external compulsion, and especially as the freedom of the people of a given territory to determine their own political status or independence from their current state. In other words, it is the right of the people of a certain nation to decide how they want to be governed without the influence of any other country. The latter is a complex concept with conflicting definitions and legal criteria for determining which groups may legitimately claim the right to self-determination.



In 1941 Allies of World War II signed the Atlantic Charter and accepted the principle of self-determination. In January 1942 twenty-six nations signed the Declaration by United Nations, which accepted those principles. The ratification of the United Nations Charter in 1945 at then end of World War II placed the right of self-determination into the framework of international law and diplomacy.

• Chapter 1, Article 1, part 2 states that purpose of the UN Charter is: "To develop friendly relations among nations based on respect for the principle of equal rights and self-determination of peoples, and to take other appropriate measures to strengthen universal peace.

• Article 1 in both the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR). Both read: "All peoples have the right of self-determination. By virtue of that right they freely determine their political status and freely pursue their economic, social and cultural development."

• The United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights article 15 states that everyone has the right to a nationality and that no one should be arbitrarily deprived of a nationality or denied the right to change nationality.