The decision «On the permanent, armed and positive neutrality of the Armenians of Western Armenia and Western Armenia itself» of March 29, 2011

            The National Council of the Armenians of Western Armenia In Accordance With the V-th Convention Respecting the Rights and Duties of Neutral Powers and Persons in Case of War on Land (The Hague, 18 october 1907) Makes a Declaration of Neutrality Positive, Armed and Permanent For the Western Armenia And Armenians of Western Armenia

            PREFACE. «Etiam hosti Fides servanda»

            Considering the losses that humanity and the Armenians have suffered in terms of human, spiritual, cultural, material and territorial, during the first and the second World War,

Considering the truth of the fact that humanity is now in deep crisis of psycho cultural, moral, psychological, economical and political, which poses a threat of collision of civilizations, and the outbreak of a third World War,

            Considering the International Convention on neutrality at The Hague, October 18, 1907, “Convention (V) respecting the Rights and Duties of Neutral Powers and Persons in Case of War on Land”, as a legal path for the humanity and the Armenians, to avoid intrastate and interreligious conflicts, and antagonisms and wars,

            Taking into account that the absence of state power in Western Armenia, has deprived the Armenians of Western Armenia to have the opportunity to be part of the Convention (V) of The Hague, “respecting the Rights and Duties of Neutral Powers and Persons in Case of War on Land”, of October 18, 1907, and from its natural right in the organization of a complete self-defence, given that if the Armenian State had existed as an independent authority, it would certainly have benefited from the conditions of the “Convention (V) respecting the Rights and Duties of Neutral Powers and Persons in Case of War on Land”, The Hague, October 18, 1907, including those of the first International Peace Conference of 1899,

            Considering it necessary to emphasize the fact that deserves to be remembered with a particular attention, when on May 24, 1915, the Triple Entente, namely Great Britain, France and Russia, were the first who manifested themselves in a joint declaration against the policy of extermination of the Armenians by the Ottoman government, describing the atrocities committed against Armenians, as; “these new crimes against humanity and civilization”, (1)

            Based on the historical fact that the Armenian Cilicia proclaimed its independence on August 4, 1920, but France, bypassing the agreements of October 27, 1915, between the representative of the National Council of Western Armenia Boghos Noubar Pasha and Franзois Georges-Picot (Head of the Eastern Division of the French Ministry of Foreign affairs) on self-determination of Armenian Cilicia, disarmed and abandoned the Armenians of Cilicia, for which reason, the independence of Cilicia did not survive. (2)

            This year is the period, when on the basis of international standards, the Ottoman Empire was dismembered, resulting in the creation of independent Arab states,

            Also based on the fact that from 1918-1920, the liberation struggle of the Armenian world that is to say the provinces of Nakhitchevan, Zankezour, Artsakh, Djavakhk and the Armenian Republic have been subject of encroachment by the Turkish and Azerbaijanese armed forces,

            And the fact that, when the Republic of Armenia was awaiting the acceptance of its request as a state member to the League of Nations in 1920, the Kemalist Turkey was carrying out a new aggression against the Armenian people in Armenia, to make inapplicable the peaceful Treaty of Sиvres, but also the Arbitral Award of the President of the United States of America, Woodrow Wilson, about the demarcation of Turkish and Armenian boundaries, and other historical realities, and the creation of a sovereign Armenian State,

            And other historical events, which for decades has prohibited the Armenians’ right to develop autonomously and freely on their own territory as indigenous people,

            And finally, according to the UN declaration on the principles and basic international standards, which reaffirm our commitment to the principle of a peaceful settlement of conflicts in order to contribute to regional peace and security, guaranteeing the right of peoples to develop and progress freely,

By this decision the National Council of Western Armenia

Declares

1. The Positive Neutrality, Armed and Permanent of the Armenians of Western Armenia, in the occupied territories de jure and de facto of Western Armenia, taking into account first of all,
2. a) the Arbitral Award of the 28th President of the United States, Woodrow Wilson, November 22, 1920, with respect to the demarcation between Armenia and Turkey, (3)
3. b) As well as the Armenian Cilicia, his status consistent with the statement of “the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples” of the UN General Assembly of 14 December 1960, resolution 1514,
4. c) And finally, towards the Armenians of Western Armenia,

which have the ancestral rights, also historical, cultural, civilized, state founder, undeniable, irrevocable, and imprescriptible in accordance with the UN declaration on the “rights of indigenous peoples”, September 13, 2007,

2. The declaration of Positive Neutrality, Armed and Permanent of the National Council of Western Armenia applies towards the Armenians which have been granted citizenship and those who have not yet, based on the fact that they are not Armenians of Diaspora, as presented so far, but Armenians of Western Armenia, who have established residence in various parts of the world as a result of deportations and the genocide of the Armenians.
3. Armenians of Western Armenia, including, the Armenian households of emigration, have the right to not participate in wars of aggression, the overthrow of States, in the national and religious conflicts, in the so called clash of civilization, and violence that arise, massacres and genocides, even in chaotic situations fuelled and pushed, according to the “Convention (V) respecting the Rights and Duties of Neutral Powers and Persons in Case of War on Land”, The Hague, 18 October 1907,
4. Armenians of Western Armenia, including, the Armenian households of emigration, have the right to defend themselves from repeated violence, assaults and deportations, and the right to defend their home country against external aggressions, according to the article 51 of the United Nations Charter concerning the “right of individual and collective self-defence”.
5. Armenians of Western Armenia, including, the Armenian households of emigration, have the right not to take part in the aggression carried out by their home country against another country or in the internal political conflicts, and have the right not to take part in civil wars, according to the “Convention (V) respecting the Rights and Duties of Neutral Powers and Persons in Case of War on Land”, The Hague, 18 October 1907,

            Given the joint statement of the main political forces of the Armenian community in Lebanon as an example of the willingness of the Armenians of Western Armenia who want to live and to grow in peace and safe. During the civil war of 1975-1990, in order to overcome the political crisis inside the country, these forces had taken the decision to apply the “Positive Neutrality of the Armenians of Lebanon”.

6. Armenians of Western Armenia, in all circumstances when they are forced to protect their Positive Neutrality, Armed and Permanent, organize Armed Forces to maintain peace throughout the country, in accordance with the defence of public order and the territorial safety of the populations, according to the “Convention (V) respecting the Rights and Duties of Neutral Powers and Persons in Case of War on Land”, The Hague, 18 October 1907,
7. Similarly, the Armenians of Western Armenia, the Armenians that have been deported or emigrated from their homeland by force during different periods and for various reasons, all have legitimate rights, moral, historical, civil, political and civic to implement the policy of Positive Neutrality, Armed and Permanent, because the League of Nations, then the UN and the International Community have not adequately defended the natural rights, permanent and inalienable of the Armenians and Armenia.
8. It has been notified in this regard, on the basis of the dispositions containing in the documents of the International Advisory Committee created by the League of Nations, on its deliberations in a report on issues relating to the ” Confiscation of the Armenian refugees properties by the Turkish government” (2 August 1929), and the decision N° 60/147 on the United Nations’ Basic Principles and Guidelines on the Right to a Remedy and Reparation for Victims of Gross Violations of International Human Rights and of Serious Violations of International Humanitarian Law” adopted on December 16, 2005.
9. Armenians of Western Armenia, that is to say, Armenian households of emigration, have the right not to be part in political wrangling and secondary interests in order to focus on fundamental national issues within a sphere of legal equality.
10. The 10 million Armenians dispersed throughout the world have the ability to assume a majority and establish security in Western Armenia, of which they are the rightful successors, and allowing necessarily (art. 29 of the Treaty of Sиvres) the implementation de facto of the Arbitral Award of the President W. Wilson.
11. The National Council of Western Armenia recommends the Western Armenian Government in exile to carry out his legislative, legal, organizational and constructive activities according to the policy of “Positive Neutrality, Armed and Permanent of the Armenians of Western Armenia and Western Armenia” in accordance with the principles of legal policies that “Western Armenia is a sovereign democratic state, Positive, Armed, Permanent and independent”.
12. The Armenian National Councils’ statement on the “Positive Neutrality, Armed and Permanent for Armenians of Western Armenia and Western Armenia” comes into force de jure from the transmission of the declaration, and de facto 60 days after submission of the said act of Declaration to the Government of the Netherlands, according to the “Convention (V) respecting the Rights and Duties of Neutral Powers and Persons in Case of War on Land”, (The Hague, 18 October 1907).

 National Council of Western Armenia

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Note: In case of translation into other languages, The original text is Armenian

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            Annotation

1. See: Le premier communiquй turc. Agence Tйlйg. Wolff. Constantinople, le 4 juin 1915, L’Agence Havas avait publiй, le 24 mai, la dйclaration suivante, aprиs une entente prйalable entre les Gouvernements de France, de Grande-Bretagne et de Russie: ” Depuis environ un mois, les populations turque et kurde de l’Armйnie commettent, avec la tolerance et souvent avec l’appui des autoritйs ottomanes, des massacres parmi les Armйniens. De tels massacres ont eu lieu vers le milieu d’avril а Erzeroum, Terdjan, Eghine, Bitlis, Mouch, Sassoun, Zeitoun et dans toute la Cilicie. Les habitants d’environ cent villages des environs de Van ont йtй tous tuйs et le quartier armйnien de Van a йtй assiйgй par les Kurdes. En mкme temps le Gouvernement ottoman a sйvi contre la population armйnienne sans dйfense de Constantinople. En face de ce nouveau crime de la Turquie contre l’humanitй et la civilisation, les Gouvernements alliйs portent publiquement а la connaissance de la Sublime Porte qu’ils en tiendront personnellement responsables tous les membres du Gouvernement turc, ainsi que ceux des fonctionnaires qui auront participй а ces massacres.
2. See: the first Turkish press. Telega agency. Wolff Constantinople, June 4, 1915, the Agence Havas was published May, 24, the following statement after a preliminary agreement between the Governments of France, Britain and Russia.

            “For about a month, Turkish and Kurdish populations of Armenia proceed in collusion and often with the support of the Ottoman authorities, to the massacres of Armenians. Such massacres took place in mid-April (new style) in Erzurum, Terdjan, Eghine, Akn, Bitlis, Mush, Sassoun, Zeitoun and throughout Cilicia ; The inhabitants of a hundred villages near Van were all murdered, in the city, the Armenian quarter is besieged by Kurds. At the same time, in Constantinople, the Ottoman Government raging against the harmless Armenian population.

            In the presence of these new crimes of Turkey against humanity and civilization, the Allied Governments make publicly known to the Sublime Porte that they will hold personally responsible for said crimes all members of the Ottoman government and those of its agents who would be implicated in such massacres”.

2. The Correspondence of the East (La Correspondance d’Orient) Economic Review, political and literary On 30th of January, 1920 The Supreme Council recognizes the Armenian Cilicia as a state, it was decided:
3. a) The government of the Armenian State will be recognized as de facto government,
4. b) That this recognition does not prejudge the question of borders of Armenian State.
5. Here is the Official and complete Arbitral Award, “The decision of the President of the United States of America to determine the border between Turkey and Armenia, access to the sea of Armenia and the demilitarization of all Turkish adjacent territory”.

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