This week's visit of Ukrainian Foreign Minister Pavel Klimkin and his statement in Baku that the Karabakh conflict is aggression on the part of Armenia caused a serious stir in Yerevan. The Armenian media attacked Klimkin with criticism, almost accusing him of all the troubles of Armenia.
For getting comments of this fact, Eurasia Diary addressed the Ukrainian diplomat, the chairman of the board of the NGO "European Movement of Ukraine", the director of the Coordinating Bureau for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration in 2008-10 Vadim Truikhan.
According to him, Ukraine always formulates its position on this or that territorial dispute, starting from the world practice of settling interstate and other conflicts and strictly in accordance with the relevant norms and principles of international law.
"In addition, the level of relations with interested parties, as well as their position regarding the aggression of Russia against Ukraine, primarily in the matter of the illegal annexation of the Crimea and Sevastopol, as well as the war in the east of the country, are taken into account - the actions that led to the occupation of 7.2 % of the territory of Ukraine, the killings of more than 10 thousand Ukrainian citizens, the destruction of a huge number of infrastructure facilities, industry, housing, etc.
Ukraine creates relations with Azerbaijan and Armenia since the proclamation of independence on the basis of the norms of international law and in the spirit of mutually beneficial cooperation, friendship and partnership. In Kiev, they value the consistent and clear position of official Baku on supporting the territorial integrity of Ukraine on internationally recognized borders. For its part, Ukraine has always advocated respect for sovereignty and the resumption of territorial integrity and has never supported any action by local, regional or global players aimed at legitimizing the division of Nagorno-Karabakh, to say nothing of its entry into Armenia.
Kiev did not recognize the so-called "constitutional referendum" in Nagorno-Karabakh, which took place on February 20, 2017. Therefore, in my opinion, some nervous reaction of some representatives of Armenia to the statement of the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Klimkin, to put it mildly, is deplorable. We must abandon unnecessary emotions and seek, through political and diplomatic methods, a way out of this situation. The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, which has not been resolved for more than 25 years, has not benefited anyone, ordinary people who were forced to leave their homes and still live in conditions of uncertainty, suffer most. Sooner or later, justice and international law should prevail. And it's better without blood and earlier, than later, "V. Trukhan said.
