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In Transdniestria, local born youth hold flags declaring the independence of three unrecognized countries

NALCHIK (Tiraspol Times) - There is no conflict between the right to self-determination and the principle of territorial integrity, says the head of of Kabardino-Balkaria's Human Rights Center. According to Valeri Khatazhukov, self-determination is a basic human right. The principle of territorial integrity of a country was not established to prevent this human right from being exercised, but rather to prevent existing countries from invading and annexing parts of other countries.

" - Some see contradictions between international principles of self-determination and preservation of territorial integrity of states. As a matter of fact, there are no contradictions. The principle of self-determination is consistently recognized in the provisions of international organizations, first of all, in the Charter of the United Nations. It is even possible to say that it prevails. The territorial integrity of Georgia can only be violated if Abkhazia or South Ossetia were to join Russia, i.e., if they were annexed," explains Valeri Khatazhukov.

Valeri Khatazhukov welcomed the recent statement by Russia's Lower House of Parliament, the Duma, which supports the striving of Abkhazia, South Ossetia and Transdniestria towards internationally recognition of their independence.

Transdniestria, which is also known under names such as Transnistria or Trans-Dniester, was already part of the USSR as an autonomous republic with Tiraspol as its capital. This lasted until 1940, when Joseph Stalin annexed Moldova to it under a secret agreement made with Hitler, the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, and moved the capital to Chisinau. For the next fifty years, the two were forced together inside the USSR until Moldova publicly renounced the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact as being "null and void ab initio" (without validity from the outset) and broke away from the USSR, citing the Pacts lack of legal validity. In the process, it tried to take Transdniestria with it, but the largely non-Moldovan population of Transdniestria resisted because it had never been part of Moldova before.

Abkhazia had a somewhat similar status, having once joined the USSR as an independent republic. Later, Joseph Stalin annexed it to Georgia. "Today, when the USSR is extinct, Abkhazia has no formal grounds to the return of this status," says Khatazhukov, adding that Stalin is long dead and buried and that Abkhazia would have been a part of Georgia if it wasn't for the actions of Stalin, who was born in Georgia.

" - For the last 15 years, Abkhazia has proved that it has all the normally-functioning organizations of an independent state," Valeri Khatazhukov said.

Territorial integrity "not supposed to be a brake on human rights"

The findings of the Kabardino-Balkaria Human Rights Center were welcomed in Transdniestria (officially: Pridnestrovie) as the new and emerging country enters its 18th year of 'de facto' independence.

" - I completely agree with Khatazhukov," says Marius Oroveanu, a freelancer for The Tiraspol Times & Weekly Review who has done research on the issue.

" - Territorial integrity had to be protected after the experiences of World War II, where countries like Germany and the Soviet Union would invade others and annex them. It was for this reason that international law developed the principle of territorial integrity," says Oroveanu. "If you look at the 1975 Helsinki Final Act, which was when the whole 'territorial integrity' fervor reached its pinnacle, you can see that it was almost meant to act as a brake preventing countries from going to war with each other over land."

" - But it was never supposed to be a brake on basic human rights, such as those to self-determination which the UN Charter guarantees. This is a rather novel interpretation which has been twisted by countries later, for instance Moldova, to suit its own purposes. They try to read something into the whole territorial integrity thing which was never there to begin with," believes Marius Oroveanu, an ethnic Moldovan who lives in Rybnitsa, Transdniestria's third largest city.

The case of Moldova is made somewhat special by the fact that today's Moldova only came into being as an independent country in 1991. One year earlier, in 1990, Transdniestria had already declared independence. By the time Moldova declared independence, Transdniestria had already existed on its own for a year.

In the past, Transdniestria was never part of any sovereign Moldovan or Romanian state at any time in history. A historically and linguistically different area, Transdniestria also has an ethnic markup which is different from Moldova's: In Transdniestria, Moldovans are in the minority and ethnic Slavs make up the majority. In Moldova, the opposite is true.

See also:
» U.S. recognition of Kosovo values self-determination higher than territorial integrity [1]
» Putin: Russia will support Abkhazia, South Ossetia [2]

Opinion and commentary:
» Canadian government advisor: "Transdniestr trapped in Stalin's cartography" [3]