NOT TO THE DETRIMENT OF INTEGRITY

The Eastern Partnership summit, which set the record straight regarding the sincerity of each of the six former Soviet countries who voluntarily became participants in this programme, has ended in Vilnius. What are the prospects for Azerbaijan's European integration? How unresolved is the conflict between the principle of territorial integrity and the right of nations to self-determination in the case with Nagornyy Karabakh Natalino Ronzitti, Emeritus Professor of International Law at LUISS-Guido Carli University of Rome, answered these questions in an interview for R+.

- The foreign policies of the South Caucasian countries are quite diverse. What could the advantages be of a foreign policy aligned towards the West?

- The cold war ended at the end of the 1980s. The question of choosing between two ideologies is no longer relevant. The West draws on such values as democracy and human rights, and these values must guide the policy of states, including the republics of the South Caucasus. Two of them are linked with NATO by the Partnership for Peace programme, and Georgia is also striving to become a member of the North Atlantic alliance. A foreign policy in line with the principles of the OSCE is the free choice of states. Another important factor is the European Union and its neighbourhood policy and the opportunity to conclude an association agreement.

- Clearly, the South Caucasus is part of a zone of strategic interest to the West due to its important geographical situation, energy reserves, and so on. How would you assess EU policy in the region?

- As the results of the Vilnius summit showed, relations between the EU and the countries of the South Caucasus, and Azerbaijan in particular, are developing actively. Another important factor is the development of the Trans-Adriatic gas pipeline, which will strengthen Azerbaijan's relations with the West and Italy, in particular.

- Some people believe that the lack of a settlement to the Nagornyy Karabakh problem is linked with a conflict between the mutually exclusive principles of territorial integrity and self-determination of peoples. Be that as it may, can self-determination be justified if it is implemented after the military occupation of territories, mass murder and ethnic cleansing? What do you think about the prospects for a settlement to the Karabakh problem?

- Both principles - self-determination and the territorial integrity of states - are important and the law provides ways of combining them. We must be cautious in correctly understanding the principle of self-determination as it relates to countries and not to minorities. Self-determination cannot be used to commit international crimes. The Karabakh issue is a question of minorities and not the self-determination of peoples.

- Incidentally, Italy has first-hand knowledge of the problem of ensuring the rights of ethnic minorities. By that I mean the once topical problem of the German-speaking majority in the autonomous region of South Tyrol (Alto Adige) in northern Italy. The model of the self-government of the South Tyrol is, in my view, a good example of meeting the aspirations of ethnic minorities without infringing a state's territorial integrity. Could this model be applied in the case of Nagornyy Karabakh?

- South Tyrol (Alto Adige) is a good example of how to treat minorities. Minorities cannot claim independence and threaten the territorial integrity of states. The South Tyrol (Alto Adige) model was endorsed, albeit implicitly, by the OSCE-Copenhagen Meeting on National Minorities. The framework convention for the protection of national minorities, which was drawn up under the aegis of the Council of Europe, is another instrument which should be borne in mind.

- Meanwhile, the international community has no single approach to the solution of the sort of problems we have seen recently in the cases of Kosovo, Abkhazia and South Ossetia. Is such a practice of unilateral recognition of the independence of individual regions not destructive for the whole system of international relations? 

- Each case is individual and has its own way of settlement involving interested sides. International law and the principles of the UN and the OSCE provide the ways and means of a peaceful solution to all international disputes. International recognition is a good instrument for expressing the support of the international community. Lack of recognition can be proof that a country is not independent under international law. 

FRAMEWORK CONVENTION FOR THE PROTECTION OF NATIONAL MINORITIES 

The framework convention of the Council of Europe was signed on 1 February 1995 and came into force three years later. The document is important in that it was the first legally binding instrument devoted to the protection of the rights of minorities in general. According to the convention, any kind of discrimination which is based on affiliation to a national minority is prohibited, and complete and actual equality between individuals affiliated to a national minority and persons affiliated to the majority of a population is encouraged.

THE SOLUTION TO THE CONFLICT IN SOUTH TYROL 

South Tyrol (Alto Adige - Italian; Sudtirol - German) is a German-speaking province situated in the extreme north of Italy. It is a part of the Trentino-Alto Adige/Sud Tirol region, which is also autonomous. It covers an area of 7,400 sq km and has a population of over 500,000. Its capital is Bolzano (Bozen). 

The majority of the population speaks an Austrian-Bavarian dialect of German, about a quarter speak Italian and a small number of the population speak Ladin.

For centuries the Tyrol was a bone of contention between the Austrian Habsburgs and the Bavarian Wittelsbachs. At the beginning of the 19th century the Tyrol became a part of the Austrian Empire, and after the First World War it became Italian. The peace treaty of 1947 confirmed the Italian border with Austria as it was in 1919. 

The German-speaking minority of South Tyrol was guaranteed complete equality of rights with the Italian-speaking population. The autonomous Trentino-Alto Adige/Sudtirol region was created, in which South Tyrol was the northernmost province of Bolzano-Bozen (the second, mainly Italian-speaking, southern province was Trentino).  

However, Austria continued to maintain that the German-speaking minority was being subjected to discrimination in Italy. Italy, in turn, accused Austria of supporting pan-German and pro-Nazi forces, as well as colluding with terrorists operating in South Tyrol throughout the 1960s. At the end of 1969 Italy and Austria reached an agreement whereby "the region obtained the rights of extended autonomy, the influence of Tyroleans was increased in national politics in the province, the German language received appropriate status and the German name of the territory - South Tyrol - was recognized". The question of South Tyrol was finally settled in 1992. In 1992 the Austrian authorities declared an end to their differences with Italy on the question of South Tyrol. In 2001 it received the status of a separate German-speaking province situated in northern Italy. According to the status of the Trentino-Alto Adige/Sudtirol region, the government guarantees the protection of the cultural and language differences between separate ethnic groups. A regional parliament was also formed which includes 70 elected candidates. The parliament not only has legal power at regional level, but also elects a president, two vice-presidents and ministers of the autonomy, and during the course of the term of the elected parliament the post of regional president must be alternately occupied by representatives of the German and Italian communities.