YouSaid · the spoken record

Vartan OSKANIAN

lines on the record: 121
first: 1999-09-24
most recent: 2007-09-24
sittings or episodes: 8
sources: un-general-debate

Every line below is reproduced as it was said and linked to the record it came from. Nothing here is summarised or generated. Directory · Search · Corrections

“Instead, we need new instruments of compromise and consensus so that we can achieve humanity’s enduring goal of living in peace and prosperity.”
2007-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 62 (2007)
“We are not attempting to make Kosovo a precedent for our conflict, because that contradicts our own principle that all conflicts are different. At the same time, however, we will not accept or understand the reverse logic, which holds that because Kosovo has been given independence, other peoples cannot achieve self-determination. No one should tell us that there is a quota for liberty and freedom. At the end of the day, the willingness and understanding of small nations and their involvement in global processes cannot be a substitute for what major Powers with greater capacities and political will to act can do. In this age of openness and inclusion, there is no room for the old instruments of coercion and exclusion.”
2007-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 62 (2007)
“We have a balanced, solid document in our hands that addresses not only the core issues but also consequential issues, and the two together add up to a reasonable solution. Third, at the core of our process lies the right of peoples to self-determination. Indeed, the people of Karabakh do not want anything more than that which is theirs. They want to live in peace and security on their own territory. In other words, they would like to exercise the very right that every single nation in this Hall has exercised at some time in their history. Speaking of conflict, we also follow very closely the events in Kosovo. We hear the international community loud and clear when it is said that Kosovo will not be a precedent for other conflicts.”
2007-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 62 (2007)
“We still have a conflict to resolve with a neighbour; there are artificial limitations on Armenia’s ability to act; and regional cooperation is lacking. The agenda of the General Assembly this year includes an item on protracted conflicts. Lumping all those conflicts together is an inherently flawed approach. Our own conflict in Nagorny Karabakh does not belong there. The United Nations is not the place to address it, because that issue is being addressed within the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe. Additionally, Karabakh is not a frozen conflict. We are negotiating with Azerbaijan and are inching towards a resolution. Second, during this time, there has been an evolution of the process.”
2007-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 62 (2007)
“Last month, Armenia celebrated its sixteenth year of independence. During this period, we have weathered sea changes that have swept us up in regional and global processes that affect us in our daily lives. But we can only take pride in what we have accomplished during the same period: an open and diverse economy, high growth and strong financial systems, as well as improved elections, stronger public institutions and a population that is increasingly aware of its rights. All of that gives us the confidence and determination to address other ills facing our society — uneven growth, a high poverty rate, low pay — and to strengthen our human institutions and deepen our experience with democracy. We have accomplished all of this under difficult circumstances.”
2007-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 62 (2007)
“My appeal to the international community, on behalf of the small countries, is that it address each of these issues on its own merits and for its own sake, not as a piece of the global power puzzle. When tension rises between global Powers, it leads to polarization, and that in turn leads to a decrease in the capacity of small nations to carry out hard-earned policies of complementarity and balance. Our ability to be part of the process diminishes. Let me state the obvious: we count on the willingness of the great Powers in the international community to set aside their disputes and to try to address these issues collectively. We also expect that they clearly understand that their power and influence do not make them immune from the consequences of the processes and problems that afflict us.”
2007-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 62 (2007)
“Genocide must be prevented, not commemorated. Generation after generation, we find new places for appalling human tolerance of inhuman machinations and names for places of slaughter, mass killings and massacres of those who belong to a particular sector, ethnic group, race or religion. For Armenia, it was, for 100 years, the desert of Der el Zor; for the next generation, it was Auschwitz; later, it was the killing fields of Cambodia; and, more recently, it was Rwanda. If each one of those names, together with the word “genocide”, evokes ignorance, helplessness and the covering up of war crimes, “Darfur” today is synonymous with expediency, evasion and simple inconvenience. “Darfur” is synonymous with shame.”
2007-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 62 (2007)
“When development is dependent on the absence of bad weather, disease and war, and when the capacity to ward off at least two of those three ills lies in the hands of those who have the ability to bring peace and to heal, we in the small nations feel at risk and helpless. When disarmament and arms control cease to be instruments for peace and security and instead become a means to reap political dividends, we in the small countries turn to our own means for self-protection. In other words, we become part of the problem, because the solution is not straightforward or visible. Finally, when “Darfur” becomes shorthand for “helplessness”, we in the small nations of the world realize that power has replaced responsibility. The ubiquitous language of human rights cannot and will not compensate for a lack of political will to act.”
2007-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 62 (2007)
“When climate change causes serious changes in the environment, it does not take much for a prolonged drought or an excessive rain to harm our agriculture and damage our economy or for rising sea levels to reach our cities. But we do not have the space or the diversity to cope and adapt. When it is news that there have been no explosions in Iraq and when daily calamities are commonplace, we in the small countries begin to sense that we are vulnerable and susceptible to the will and the capacity of other members of the international community and, most important, to their tolerance of distant acts of violence and humiliation.”
2007-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 62 (2007)
“Finding solutions to these problems is in our common interest, for they are issues that affect all of humanity. And because these problems cannot be solved within our own borders, no one has either the right to abdicate responsibility for the consequences or the luxury of doing so. When the speculative market drives the price of oil to $80, those who are too small to have significant reserves are the ones who are affected most, and large countries with large appetites for fuel sometimes make deals on energy matters that are not consistent with their policies. So do we, because energy security is not only a matter of global arithmetic; it is also a matter of life and death.”
2007-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 62 (2007)
“This year, as financial calamities have compounded political and natural disasters, it has become very clear that, although our common problems and challenges threaten us all equally, they affect us unevenly. The small nations, which have less of everything — diversity, resources, manoeuvrability, means and options — are at greater peril and have greater susceptibility than those with bigger territories, larger populations and greater potential. At the same time, the issues on the agenda of the General Assembly — such as peace and security, economic growth, sustainable development, human rights, disarmament, drugs, crime and international terrorism — know no borders, and none of us can address them individually if we want to see effective solutions.”
2007-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 62 (2007)
“Each opportunity to speak from this rostrum is a humbling experience, because I know that all the countries of the world listen to one another and try to discern and understand where our common approaches and interests lie. Those of us who represent small countries have a sense that this forum is a place where large nations address the ills of the world and that we smaller ones ought to stick to issues and topics that are specific to us and to our regions, as if addressing overarching, global issues were pretentious and best left to those with the power to do something about them. Today marks my tenth year here, and I risk breaking the rule.”
2007-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 62 (2007)
“There is no military option. That option has been tried and has failed. The only option today is realism and compromise. The path that the people of Nagorno Karabakh have chosen over the past two decades is a path that has become irreversible. Solidifying and formalizing the process will greatly contribute to peace and stability in our region. Karabakh is not a cause. It is an ancient place, a beautiful garden with people who have earned the right to live in peace and prosperity. That is what we seek, and we cannot accept anything less.”
2006-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 61 (2006)
“This reflects the fact that Azerbaijan still does not believe in the peaceful resolution of this conflict. Armenians cannot be blamed for thinking that Azerbaijan is not serious about a peaceful solution. Having rejected the past two offers of the international community, Azerbaijan is now concerned about being accused of rejecting the current peace plan. That is why it is manoeuvring and manipulating every possible situation — from State violence to introducing resolutions in other forums outside the peace process so that the Armenians are forced to do the rejecting. But Armenia is clearly on record as stating that it stands by every single principle included in the document it submitted. However, in order to give a chance to that document, one cannot think or even pretend to think that there is a military option to this conflict.”
2006-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 61 (2006)
“But Azerbaijan has lost every iota of the moral right to talk about guaranteeing the security of the people of Nagorno Karabakh, let alone to claim custody over that people. Azerbaijan did not act responsibly or morally towards the people of Nagorno Karabakh, people that it considered to be its own citizens. It unleashed military action; it sanctioned pogroms and massacres in urban areas. It bombed and displaced more than 300,000 Armenians. When it lost the war and accepted a ceasefire, it began to destroy all traces of Armenians by eliminating Armenian monuments throughout the territory. Over the past two years, the remaining 2,000 carved stone crosses, representing Armenian cemeteries, were desecrated and eliminated. The territory has now been turned into a shooting range for the Azerbaijani army.”
2006-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 61 (2006)
“There is a reason that the Helsinki Final Act enshrined the principle of self- determination as equal among other principles in international relations. In international interactions, just as in human relations, there are no absolute values. There are also responsibilities. A State should gain and earn the right to govern. States have the responsibility to protect their own citizens, and the people have the right to choose the Government that they think should govern them. The people of Nagorno Karabakh decided long ago not to be represented by the Government of Azerbaijan, because they suffered from State violence. They tried to protect themselves, and they succeeded against all odds, only to hear the State cry foul and claim sovereignty and territorial integrity.”
2006-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 61 (2006)
“While we ourselves do not consider the Kosovo outcome to be a precedent for other conflicts, we are extremely anxious about the possibility that it may raise artificial obstacles for other self-determination movements, simply because others cite it as a precedent. This is of extreme concern to us because we believe that there are movements in the world today that have earned the right to self-determination. The Kosovo outcome should not serve as an excuse or reason to put a damper on those self-determination movements. Yet, such attempts are already apparent in this Hall as the principle of self-determination is being undermined compared to other principles. But this goes contrary to the lessons of history.”
2006-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 61 (2006)
“We still believe and hope that Turkey will eventually understand that keeping the border closed until there is harmony and mutual understanding between our two 06-53341 8 peoples is not a policy. On the contrary, it is avoidance of a responsible policy to forge and promote regional cooperation and economic development at a time and in a region that are the object of growing global attention. Let me address the issue of Kosovo, as many have done from this podium. We closely follow the process of self-determination in Kosovo because we Armenians, ourselves, are extremely supportive of the process of self-determination for the people of Nagorno Karabakh. But we do not draw parallels between the two conflicts or with any other conflict. We believe and insist that conflicts are all different, and each must be decided on its own merits.”
2006-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 61 (2006)
“We need to invest in people; we need to invest in women and children; and we need to educate them and train them for the future. We will begin that programme in Armenia’s border villages. Unlike other countries, where border villages are points of interaction and activity, Armenia’s eastern and western borders are closed, thus stifling economic interaction and regional cooperation. With our neighbour, Turkey, it is not only economic cooperation that suffers, but also the dialogue between our two peoples. Turkey’s insistence on keeping the border closed and not allowing interaction between the two communities freezes the memories of yesterday, instead of promoting dialogue and interaction to create new experiences and new memories for tomorrow.”
2006-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 61 (2006)
“While we are encouraged by this economic progress and the positive macroeconomic indicators, we are now turning our attention to the rural areas in order to eradicate poverty in our society. We are reminded of the remarkable promise, made in 2000, to the victims of global poverty to “free our fellow men, women and children from the abject and dehumanizing conditions of extreme poverty” (resolution 55/2, para. 11). To be able to do that in Armenia, we will leverage the philanthropy of international organizations and friendly countries with the traditional generosity of our diaspora, so that we can build and repair infrastructure and thus create new conditions for economic development and social change. But we also understand that infrastructure alone is not enough to introduce that kind of change that reduces poverty.”
2006-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 61 (2006)
“They will be judged by their adherence to the principle, promise and commitment of collective action. Six years have now passed and the world still earnestly looks on to see whether individual and regional interests can be overcome and those problems jointly addressed. We in Armenia also face similar problems. We are encouraged and rewarded by the extensive political and economic reforms that we have conducted over the past 10 years. The results are evident. We are now preparing to engage in the second generation of political and economic reforms in order to continue to build on the past decade of progress. We are moving forward on legislative and administrative matters; we are today a more democratic society and a more open and more liberal economy. We have been registering double-digit growth over the past six years.”
2006-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 61 (2006)
“Collectively, we created and empowered the Peacebuilding Commission and the Human Rights Council, two bodies that hold great promise for delivering deeper and more profound commitment on the part of the world community to building peace and protecting human rights. The most threatening challenges in the world remain those of poverty and hopelessness. When our leaders gathered in this Hall six years ago, they decided that the United Nations was the most effective body in which to address the ills facing our societies. They collectively recognized their responsibility to deliver, worldwide, more equitably distributed social and economic development, at an accelerated pace. They said to the world that they were willing to channel international processes and multilateral resources in order to tackle the needs of the world’s poor.”
2006-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 61 (2006)
“I believe the international community has lost some credibility and moral authority in the eyes of the peoples of the world, who watched the Security Council bicker over minute issues while bombs were being dropped in Lebanon and innocent people were being killed. It was a great shame for the international community not to be able to deliver and establish an immediate ceasefire. When an international body loses moral authority, our ability to effectively tackle problems and issues that require a collective response is certainly undermined. In other areas, however, the collective efforts of the international community have indeed succeeded. I believe we played a role in the civilized process of bringing Montenegro to this day and to this body.”
2006-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 61 (2006)
“Let me congratulate Ms. Haya Rashed Al-Khalifa on her election to the presidency and wish her a year relatively free of conflict crisis and catastrophe — in other words, a year unlike the one we have just had, during which His Excellency Jan Eliasson significantly contributed to the successful navigation of troubled waters with his great leadership. The “year of turmoil”, as he called it (see A/60/PV.100), included conflicts and crises, as well as man-made and natural disasters, all requiring our collective response. We have responded with great commitment to maintain peace and stability in the world. Of the conflicts that we have faced in this past year, the one that emerged to be the most tragic was that of the war in Lebanon.”
2006-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 61 (2006)
“When the United Nations was created 60 years ago, it gave the people of the world hope and faith in their leaders, in their future and in the lives of their children. Today, having witnessed the huge calamities and catastrophes, both man-made and natural, which have occurred recently, there is a clear need to restore the faith of the peoples of the world. Looking at the damage caused by last year’s Asian tsunami and the recent Hurricane Katrina, looking at the violence that is being perpetrated in Darfur and the carnage that we witnessed in London, we are questioning ourselves, our neighbours and our assumptions. The answer must be united momentum, united effort, united resources and united action by nations united. The United Nations can still be that answer.”
2005-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 60 (2005)
“What will we say to our children if we do not achieve the Millennium Development Goals in the next decade, when we are living in an era that has witnessed the creation of huge wealth in the world economy, but where half of the world’s population still lives in poverty, far from benefiting from the fruit of that growth? What if we, in our region, miss the opportunity to make peace and put war, its consequences and its legacy, behind us? How, then, are we going to be able to look our children in the face? What if we reject that chance to learn from our past, to come to terms with our history, if we refuse to take our common and joint responsibility to intervene and prevent conflict, letting Governments time and again commit torture, ethnic cleansing and genocide against their own populations? What will we then tell our children?”
2005-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 60 (2005)
“Earned representation: that is, countries that are committed to democracy, human rights and the rule of law should have the right to sit on the Human Rights Council; countries that are serious about social and economic development should occupy seats on the Economic and Social Council; and countries that are committed to world peace and security, that are serious about the dignity of the world community, should assume a leadership role in the world community. Those are not ambitious goals. It is only natural that our national interests will differ. That is why the United Nations must step in to fill the gap, enabling us to work together in exchange for commitment and action. It all boils down to our accountability to our children.”
2005-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 60 (2005)
“That is because the spirit of San Francisco in 1945, and the global Charter that was forged there, were revolutionary. The Charter affirmed the obligation and accountability of one generation to another, of one State to another other, and that together, States can and must create a safer world. The formula that was worked out then to achieve those goals worked. Today, we need to rework that formula, reaffirming, first and foremost, our responsibility and accountability to our citizens and Governments, the responsibility of international institutions to their members and of States to each other. We need to democratize international relations and international institutions. We need fair, earned representation around the decision-making table.”
2005-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 60 (2005)
“The prospect of United Nations reform is only the beginning of achieving the promise of a world Organization that would better resemble the realities of the current world. If we cannot find common ground, if we cannot agree to reform this institution today or tomorrow or next week or this year, I believe that one day we will have to do it. We cannot simply go on pretending that we do not know our history. We cannot go on pretending that the world has not changed. We cannot go on pretending that we do not understand that there are new realities. It is not 1945 any longer. Still, it is very encouraging that the principles enshrined in the United Nations Charter — written three generations ago — remain valid, relevant and 23 significant today.”
2005-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 60 (2005)
“What they want is what we all want, the right to live on their own land, in their own homes, in dignity, safety and security. The people of Karabakh have achieved that, and subsequently they have demonstrated to the world that they can sustain their de facto independence, that they can rule themselves, create democratic institutions and conduct elections. Countries like mine come to such gatherings and meetings with huge expectations, because we want to contribute, to participate and to be involved in the give and take. But, if you think that because I am the Minister for Foreign Affairs of what is obviously a small country, and frankly, an imperfect one, I do not have the right to expound on our common future, allow me for a moment to speak, not as a foreign minister, but as a citizen of the world.”
2005-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 60 (2005)
“In other words, we think the military option is not available as a tool in domestic and foreign policy. When it comes to regional conflicts, advocating military solutions is not only unrealistic but is also a clear manifestation of a patent lack of understanding of democracy, rule of law and human rights. The founders of this institution, the United Nations, clearly indicated and knew that security, development and human rights go hand in hand. But self-determination is a human right and the people of Nagorny Karabakh have aspired to it, fought for it and earned it. They had to face the aggression of a Government they did not choose, but they fought for self-determination and they earned it. It was a fight that was not of their choosing and the right they fought for was neither abstract nor excessive.”
2005-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 60 (2005)
“But let me say that, if we had the oil resources, we would have used those revenues to double our education budget, because we understand that education is development. Education creates dreams for our youth and provides the means to achieve them. If we had the oil revenues, we would double our social security budget, because we clearly see that there is a gap between the dreams of our people and the prospects of achieving them. If we had the oil revenues, we would double our efforts in the area of environmental protection, because that is the best investment a society can make. But one thing we would not do is to double our military budget. We will not create imaginary outside enemies to justify our own inaction and failures. We will not pretend that there are simplistic, fanatical solutions to complicated social and economic problems.”
2005-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 60 (2005)
“They have to provide, and they will provide, a better environment for political and economic development. We think we need to create transparent, solid, open institutions so that we can limit the action of the elite, and create a level playing field for the entire population. We are pleased with the ranking that we have achieved. But we are satisfied only because we know we have achieved this against all odds: against our geography, against our history and against attempts in our region to isolate Armenia. Armenia is a small, landlocked country. We do not have the natural resources our neighbours have. It has become customary to say that our greatest natural resource is our population, and indeed it is.”
2005-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 60 (2005)
“Societies are judged by the way they treat their most vulnerable. In Armenia, the poor are in the rural areas and we have to make sure that economic development can trickle out to our rural areas from the cities. For us, economic development is comprehensive rural development. It is our plan to identify those areas that can provide opportunity for rural people so that they can develop and unleash their capacity for production. Just as with the MDGs, there must be a partnership between rich and poor. In our case, we are trying to create such a partnership so that we reduce the numbers of poor in our country more rapidly. Secondly, we have to turn democracy into a tool for development. Democracy means not only elections. Democracy and democratic institutions are not simply ends for their own sake.”
2005-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 60 (2005)
“In the past four or five years, we have indeed seen double-digit economic growth, and we understand that our biggest challenge today is to translate that high economic growth into progress in human development. Each year in Armenia we look forward to the publication of the Human Development Report because we see it as a sort of report card that shows how our country is doing. In the past four or five years we have been making steady progress. This year we placed eighty-third, ahead of all of our neighbours. While we should not underestimate this progress, on the other hand, we do not want to exaggerate it. We have to look at this index, at its promise, and see what problems we facing that we need to address and what gaps need to be filled. 22 First, we have to accelerate our efforts to reduce the level of poverty in our country.”
2005-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 60 (2005)
“Five years later, I think these goals are still relevant and they are no less imperative. Pretending that anything less would do is, I think, disingenuous, dangerous and unfair. If, today, our focus is on global security, and we all clearly understand and see that the path to security passes through development, then we should recall Eleanor Roosevelt, who 60 years ago, working on the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, stated that men in need were not free. Indeed, only with the realization of these Goals can we enable men to live in greater freedom. In Armenia, where our resources are very limited but the will of people is very strong, we have been experiencing good economic growth.”
2005-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 60 (2005)
“Let me first welcome you, Sir, to your position. I know we will enjoy working with you, given our past experience. Let me also express our appreciation to the outgoing President for the leadership that he provided during the previous session. When the Millennium Summit was held in 2000, in another New York and another era and before unspeakable events overtook our agenda, the lack of universal economic development was the supreme challenge and security concern that we had. That is why the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) were created. It took the commitment and firm belief of almost 200 of our world leaders to come up with simple, obvious, straightforward objectives, which I think can be best summed up by Amartya Sen’s eloquent formulation, “Development as freedom”.”
2005-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 60 (2005)
“This year, as he worked to minimize the pain and suffering of the people of Iraq, to help them rebuild their country and their Government, he and too many of his colleagues lost their lives. His death and that of Anna Lindh of Sweden remind us that ideas, more than people, scare and threaten. Those two brutal murders also suggest to us louder than any demonstration that the leadership of the world still has much to do in engaging the rejectionists, the extremists and the cynical. Our positive, forward-looking, determined steps here in the General Assembly will go a long way towards convincing them.”
2003-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 58 (2003)
“We also adopted the draft law on the ombudsman, thus empowering our citizens and investing them with the faith necessary to govern with justice and to be governed with dignity. Another matter that is important for us and for all humanity: Armenia continues to engage countries and Governments around the world to recognize and condemn the first genocide of the twentieth century. The survivors of the genocide and their descendants are helping to build a democratic Armenia, committed to the future without forgetting the past. When Sergio Vieira de Mello visited Armenia several years ago, he came looking for ways to minimize the pain and suffering of Armenian refugees forced to flee their homes in Baku and Sumgait in Azerbaijan.”
2003-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 58 (2003)
“Our economic growth has continued despite the blockade, which goes against the spirit and the conclusions of the recent United Nations sponsored International Ministerial Conference on Transit Transport Cooperation, which reaffirmed the right of access by landlocked countries to and from the sea and their freedom of transit through the territory of their neighbours by all means of transport, in accordance with the applicable rules of international law. For us, that means a condemnation of the practice of unilateral 32 coercive economic measures intended as political pressure. This was also a good year for our legislative reform process. The Armenian parliament has ratified the Sixth Protocol of the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, thus unconditionally abolishing the death penalty.”
2003-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 58 (2003)
“As we prepare for the World Summit on the Information Society in December in Geneva, Armenia is living a hopeful paradox. On the one hand, less than half of our more than one thousand schools are connected to the Internet; on the other hand, information and communications technologies (ICTs) comprise a significant proportion of Armenia's exports today. Still, too many in our country just like the majority of the world population still remain untouched by the ICT revolution and its potential. We recognize, of course, that ICTs can be central in economies like ours, especially given the continuing blockade.”
2003-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 58 (2003)
“The shortest path to the eradication of transitional ills such as the polarization of society, the urban-rural gap and uneven access to higher education is to sustain that high level of economic growth. That is why, with the help of the United Nations Development Programme, we embarked on the sustainable economic development programme. That is why the Government has approved and launched a poverty reduction strategy. It is also why achieving the Millennium Development Goals for poverty eradication, the awareness and prevention of HIV/AIDS and the empowerment of women is an important part of Armenia's development strategy. In Armenia, the United Nations plays a key role in promoting synergies directed at expanding the development impact of information and communications technologies.”
2003-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 58 (2003)
“Azerbaijan's leadership, old and new, rather than remaining prisoners to the Soviet era which they themselves rejected as historically illegitimate can look to a future of compromise, peace, regional cooperation and prosperous, stable development. Armenia intends to go forward. Indeed, we already have. The year 2003 has been a very good year for Armenia. On the economic front, our steady, double-digit growth rate is the fastest in the Commonwealth of Independent States and in Europe. This has led some to call Armenia the Caucasian tiger. We are pleased with the name and the challenge. We know that with economic growth comes an even greater responsibility: to confront the social gaps which can lead to social inequality and domestic instability.”
2003-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 58 (2003)
“Still, the moral, historical, legal and psychological balance favoured the people of Nagorny Karabakh, who were fighting for their homes, their families, their security, their lives and their futures. The armaments of Azerbaijan did not then and cannot ever break the will of the people of Nagorny Karabakh to live freely on their own land. Indeed, Azerbaijanis are victims, but of their own aggression. They started the war, one-sidedly. They began massacring Armenians, citizens of the Azerbaijani cities of Sumgait, Baku and Ganja the most irresponsible reaction that a Government can undertake, using the most inhuman methods associated with pogroms. The war that followed changed the world for two generations of Armenians, who have never lived under Azerbaijani rule.”
2003-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 58 (2003)
“Not only has Armenia's economy not succumbed to political pressures, but our rate of growth is greater than Azerbaijan's and not only Azerbaijan's. Nevertheless, they continue to cling to a second and related myth. Dreaming of future oil sales whose revenues will be used to buy armaments, Azerbaijan is anticipating the day when it will again have the resources to pursue a military solution. This is self- deception, as well. Azerbaijan has forgotten that similar fantasies led them to respond militarily to the peaceful demands of Nagorny Karabakh's population for self-determination in 1992. The military balance was hugely in their favour then, in proportions far greater than what they might hope for in the future.”
2003-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 58 (2003)
“Nearly a decade of negotiations brought us, two years ago, to Key West, Florida, where, hosted by the United States 31 Government and under the watchful eyes of the Minsk Group Co-Chairmen, the President of Armenia and whether the Prime Minister of Azerbaijan likes it or not the President of Azerbaijan did in fact reach an understanding which reflected those realities. There are two myths in Azerbaijan today both of them faulty, miscalculated and risky. Since 1992, Azerbaijan has convinced itself that if they just hold out long enough, Armenia's economy will capitulate, and leave Nagorny Karabakh unprotected and defenceless. Their calculations that a blockade of Armenia would mean that our economic and social conditions will plummet while their oil-based economy grows have proven misguided and misinformed.”
2003-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 58 (2003)
“We are fully aware that no single Government can effectively fight this danger alone. Unfortunately, the necessity for coherent measures and cooperation at national, regional and international levels is often stalled, as for example in our region, where a common threat that knows no borders is not only being addressed individually and in isolation, but also exploited for political reasons. In our region, there is much political exploitation. The new Prime Minister of Azerbaijan made plain from this podium yesterday that in his Government's election year, they are willing, at their peril, to ignore the realities which are self-evident.”
2003-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 58 (2003)
“In Israel and Palestine, Armenia hails the Quartet's efforts, recognizing that the endangered road map remains the only viable option for peace in a long- suffering region. The situation in Iraq makes the debate about the hows and whys of this conflict irrelevant. The world's small countries are accustomed to making political compromises to join the international flow. In Iraq, the principal Powers, too, must compromise so that a more engaged and empowered United Nations can rally a broad range of countries from the immediate region, as well as the rest of the world, to take on responsibility in bringing democracy and stability to a critical part of the Middle East. It is ironic and in many ways lamentable that the evil of terrorism is what has caused us to rally together.”
2003-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 58 (2003)
“This General Assembly has the chance to go down in history, not as an undermined, inadequate but well-meaning giant, but as a viable instrument of world peace. The Secretary-General's goals, from United Nations budget and financing reform to reconstituting and enlarging the Security Council, are the building blocks of the relevant, responsive, comprehending, world forum for international cooperation that the United Nations can be. We applaud his decision to empower a commission to give concrete form to the wishes of many. Each year we speak of the need for a comprehensive and lasting peace in the Middle East, never believing that next year, the region can become even more volatile and explosive. We believe the United Nations and all Member States must continue to support the renewal of the full-scale peace process.”
2003-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 58 (2003)
“These crises are forcing a transformation of this Organization as well. Today, reform has become essential not just in the way we decide, act and operate, but in the way we think. Reforms cannot be delayed if this General Assembly and this Organization are to be truly relevant as facilitators of world peace. If the United Nations is for the peaceful, prosperous and democratic development of today's world, then it must undergo its own democratization, so that it will have the increased moral authority to direct others through reform and democratic transition. An organization that espouses dialogue and negotiation as alternatives to violence and conflict ought to find ways through dialogue and negotiation to arrive at a consensus on how to resolve the critical, universal issues facing us today.”
2003-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 58 (2003)