Political analyst Armen Minasyan said that the fact that the OSCE Minsk Group makes a reference to the UN Charter in the joint statement in Astana is a new element in the Karabakh conflict settlement.

This novelty stems from the interest of the Karabakh people.

“The matter is that the UN Charter, which has a prevalent force in the international law system, rather clearly fixes people’s right to self-determination,” said Minasyan.

The first article of the document reads: “The purposes of the United Nations are: … 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.”

“The principle of territorial integrity has no a high status in the UN Charter,” Minasyan noted, adding that due to this the number of UN member states has reached 200 against previous 52.

Besides, Minasyan said that provision 4 of Article 2 of the UN Charter prohibits the threat or use of force.

According to him, the Karabakh conflict gains a new interpretation on this evidence.

Minasyan said that if a necessity arises to bring the conflict resolution in compliance with the UN Charter, it will mean that the conflict origin, parties’ actions during its active phase and consequences, specifically the fact of the Karabakh people’s self-determination and Azerbaijan’s aggression that followed it should be assessed.

“And here, in my opinion, parallels can be drawn with the Hague court ruling on Kosovo,” said Minasyan.

On December 1, the Heads of Delegation of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chair countries (the President of the Russian Federation Dmitri Medvedev, the Prime Minister of France Francois Fillon, and the Secretary of State of the United States Hillary Rodham Clinton), the President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev, and the President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan adopted a joint statement within the framework of the OSCE Summit in Astana. The parties agreed that the time has come for more decisive efforts to resolve the Nagorno Karabakh conflict.