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An independence monument in Transdniestria shows the new country's flag and its initials "PMR" in cyrillic letters

STEPANAKERT (Tiraspol Times) - International recognition of Kosovo as an independent state would give new impetus to the sovereignty claim of 'de faco' independent states like Nagorno Karabakh and Transdniestria, among others, say politicians from these new and emerging countries. Whatever the outcome on Kosovo it can create a legal precedent which under international law can be equally applied to similar territorial disputes elsewhere.

" - The Kosovo model of conflict settlement could be an example for the resolution of other conflicts," Masis Mailyan, a senior Nagorno Karabakh government minister, told the Reuters news agency on Tuesday.

" - If it (Kosovo) is recognized, then it is interesting to me in that an unrecognized country has won recognition in spite of the opinion of its former sovereign rulers."

" - In this sense the Kosovo model is an interesting one for us. That is to say, we could achieve recognition under a new scenario."

U.S. President George W. Bush has stated that the time has come for Kosovo independence and that Kosovo will become independent sooner rather than later.

The current president of Transdniestria, Igor Smirnov, says his state has a better case for independence than Kosovo.

Transdniestria: Better claim to independence than Kosovo

Igor Smirnov, the President of Transdniestria, said in an interview in March 2007 that historically and under international law, his republic's claim to statehood is much stronger than Kosovo's.

" - Pridnestrovie has a much stronger legal and historical basis for recognized sovereignty than Kosovo," said Smirnov, referring to Transdniestria by its official, constitutional name.

In Kosovo, the Muslim majority has announced that it is not prepared to wait for the United Nations but will announce a unilateral declaration of independence. If this happens, the United States and some European states have indicated their willingness to recognize Kosovo as a sovereign state in contravention of an earlier United Nations Security Council resolution.

States like Nagorno Karabakh and Transdniestria, which have no U.N. authorized peacekeepers and whose current status have never been the subject of Security Council resolutions, have an easier way to internationally recognized independence than Kosovo. Whereas the legality of Kosovo independence hinges on the UN Security Council, and its five permanent veto-wielding members, no such requirement is needed for legal independence for Transdniestria, Nagorno Karabakh or other 'de facto' independent states.

Few of today's countries have been created by the United Nations. The majority of today's states declared independence through the use of unilateral declarations, with no need for any prior UN agreement or Security Council resolution. In some cases, they had to fight wars to secure their people's right to self-determination. Transndiestria defended its wish for independence in 1992 against Moldovan military attacks. Over 1,000 people lost their lives and an estimated 100,000 became refugees. In Nagorno Karabakh's case, it's fight to split from Azerbaijan was the bloodiest of the former Soviet Union's independence wars, with about 35,000 people killed and over a million forced to flee their homes.

In Nagorno Karabakh, the ethnic Armenian majority drove out Azerbaijan's forces and now runs its own affairs with support from neighboring Armenia, but no state has recognized its actual independence. Similar developments happened in Transdniestria, where the majority population of ethnic Slavs defended successfully itself against Moldova. Many locally resident Moldovans fought on the side of Transdniestria and against a wish to be incorporated against their will into the newly created Republic of Moldova on the other side of the Dniester river.

In both cases, peace talks lasting more than 15 years have failed to make significant progress. Although Montenegro became independent in 2006 following the resuls of an independence referendum, the international community will not allow Nagorno Karabakh or Transdniestria the same right. However, independent observers and human rights groups have noted that under international law it will not be possible to reach a negotiated status settlement solution without taking the will of the people into account, as expressed democratically in a free and fair referendum on independence.

Union denounced by Moldova as "null and void"

Elsewhere in the former Soviet Union, South Ossetia and Abkhazia have successfully withstood claims from Georgia against ruling their territories. Like Transdniestria, they are also seeking international recognition and view developments in Kosovo as a precedent.

The short-lived union of Moldova and Transdniestria was a forced marriage which was imposed by Stalin and Hitler in 1940. Using a secret protocol under the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, the two dictators attempted to carve up Europe between them. In 1940, the Soviet Union invaded Romania and grabbed a piece of land - today's Moldova - which it united with a slice of old Russian land, today's Transdniestria. The union was undone a year later, in 1941, but was restored in 1944 thanks to Soviet victories in World War II.

Imposed against the will of the people, from 1944 until 1990 the two sides were joined in an unnatural marriage known as the Moldavian SSR. This union was denounced by Moldova in 1990 as illegal, and again in Moldova's own independence declaration of 1991 which denounced its incorporation into the Soviet Union as illegal and declared that the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact was "null and void" from the beginning.

Transdniestria, too, did not want to be part of this union either.
One year before the Moldavian SSR dissolved, and Moldova declared independence as the Republic of Moldova, Transdniestria had already left the union. Transdniestria declared independence in 1990, and Moldova did so one year later. Legally speaking, Transdniestria was never part of today's Republic of Moldova, notwithstanding Moldovan territorial claims to the contrary. (With information from Reuters)

See also:
» Kosovo independence gives equal rights to Pridnestrovie; other unrecognized countries [1]
» Kosovo and Transdniester both reject "political games" over their independence [2]
» Kosovo precedent takes shape as USA rules out return to the past [3]
» Igor Smirnov: "We have a stronger case for statehood than Kosovo" [4]