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Nagorno-Karabakh is de facto independent with its own law enforcement and military, shown here during a drill in the country

TIRASPOL (Tiraspol Times / ArmeniaNow) - Having sat on the sidelines of jointly coordinated conflict resolution for three years, the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic (NKR) is now participating again, ArmeniaNow reports.

The unrecognized country of mostly ethnic Armenians joined the other unrecognized states on the post-Soviet space in a common declaration of peaceful settlement principles issued last weekend in Tiraspol, the capital of Transdniestria (PMR, an abbreviation of its official name, the Pridnestrovskaia Moldavskaia Respublica).

NKR's signature on the document represents its return to a grouping informally known as the Commonwealth of Unrecognized States and also called, by some, the CIS-2 or the anti-GUAM. Its formal name is the Community for Democracy and Peoples' Rights (Community-DPR, with a website online at www.community-dpr.org).

This commonwealth emerged along with the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) on the wreckage of the sunken USSR, however its members have never been recognized by the international community. This union includes the Republic of Abkhazia and the Republic of South Ossetia, which declared their independence on the territory of Soviet Georgia, the Transdnistrian Republic, which declared its sovereignty on the territory of Soviet Moldova and the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic, which declared its political independence on the territory of Soviet Azerbaijan.

Despite the fact that these countries de facto have existed for more than 16 years, the international community is not in a hurry to recognize either of them. However, it is in a hurry to recognize Kosovo as an entity of international law. It was this circumstance that prodded the members of the CUS to a new unification, despite the fact that in 2004 Nagorno-Karabakh temporarily withdrew from this political structure.

Joint declaration signed by representatives of four unrecognized countries

The four-state joint “Declaration on principles of peaceful and fair settlement of the Georgian-Abkhazian, Georgian-Ossetian, Azeri-Karabakh and Moldovan-Transdnistrian conflicts” was signed in Tiraspol on June 17 by the Transdniestrian Republic, Abkhazia, South Ossetia, and the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic.

The declaration calls for barring all types of pressure -- such as military deployments, diplomatic isolation, economic blockades, or information wars -- during negotiations toward resolution of conflicts. It also calls for external guarantees to eventual political settlements of these conflicts.

The statement of the foreign ministers in Tiraspol described Kosovo’s recognition as “inevitable” and adding to a “legal basis” for recognition of Transnistria’s, Abkhazia’s, South Ossetia’s, and Karabakh’s independence.

But Kosovo is not a precedent: Transdniester's title to recognition is stronger than Kosovo’s. “Our state institutions and democratic standards are much better developed,” Litskai said.

Kosovo precedent is inevitable, foreign ministers say

Immediately after the signing of the declaration, the advisor on political issues to the president of Nagorno-Karabakh Arman Melikyan, commenting on the Kosovo precedent, said: “The recognition of the independence of Kosovo as a legal precedent will, of course, be working. In this sense it may prove a certain acceleration in the recognition of our states. If Kosovo is not recognized, it will not become an occasion for us to give up our own independence, which we already confirmed through a nationwide referendum.”

“ - The Kosovo precedent is a very important and difficult problem,” Transdniestria’s foreign minister Valery Litskai said. “Kosovo exists only seven years, and Transdniestria has existed for 17 years. It means we are much older. The institutions of the state that in Kosovo are just emerging, have worked in our republic in full strength. No referendums have ever been held in Kosovo, while it is a regular procedure in Transdnistria. There are many such examples. Kosovo still needs to mature to reach our level.”

In his commentary South Ossetia’s Foreign Minister Murat Jioyev said: “When we declared our independence, we did not look at Kosovo, it simply wasn’t an example for us. That’s why when they tell us that Kosovo should not be a precedent for you, it is not a precedent for us in the sense that we will in any case be seeking our independence. It is another thing that if Kosovo is recognized by the international community, it will automatically become a precedent for those states that are also seeking their recognition. This must be reckoned with.”

Commenting on statements by the U.S. Bush administration that the recognition of Kosovo’s independence cannot become a precedent for settling the rest of the territorial conflicts, Vice-Speaker Hovhannisyan noted that these statements are not valid, since it will be impossible to explain to the people of Karabakh or any other people why they are not allowed to do what Albanians are allowed. “I am sure that the recognition of Kosovo’s independence will become a precedent for the settlement of other territorial conflicts,” he said. (With information from ArmeniaNow)

See also:
» Nagorno-Karabakh joins Transdniester, Abkhazia and S.Ossetia in call for peace [1]
» 98.6% of Nagorno Karabakh's voters choose independence [2]
» Nagorno Karabakh seeks common cause with Pridnestrovie [3]