DECREE OF THE PRESIDIUM OF THE SUPREME SOVIET OF THE USSR

History

“On the Introduction of a Special Form of Administration in the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Region of the Azerbaijan SSR” January 12, 1989

In connection with the continuing tension in interethnic relations in and around the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Region, and for the purpose of preventing further escalation and stabilizing the situation in this region, taking into account the proposals of the party and state organs of the Azerbaijan SSR and the Armenian SSR, as well as the Commission of the Soviet of Nationalities, the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, having considered this matter together with the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the Azerbaijan SSR, and in accordance with paragraph 14 of Article 119 of the Constitution of the USSR, hereby decrees:

  1. To temporarily introduce in the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Region a special form of administration, while preserving the status of Nagorno-Karabakh as an autonomous region within the Azerbaijan SSR.
    • To establish a Committee of Special Administration of the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Region under the chairmanship of Comrade A. I. Volsky.
    • To suspend the powers of the twentieth convocation of the Council of People’s Deputies of the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Region and its Executive Committee until the election of a new Council.
  2. To establish that the Committee of Special Administration of the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Region shall be directly subordinate to the supreme organs of state power and administration of the USSR, shall exercise in full the powers of the Council of People’s Deputies of the autonomous region and its Executive Committee, and that the Chairman of the Committee shall possess the rights and duties of the Chairman of the Executive Committee of the Regional Council of People’s Deputies.
    • The Committee shall assume leadership over the local organs of state power and administration of the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Region, and shall be provided with the apparatus of the Executive Committee of the Regional Council of People’s Deputies as its working body.
  3. To establish that, for the duration of this Decree, enterprises, institutions, and organizations of union and republican subordination located in the territory of the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Region, as well as their branches, workshops, and other structural subdivisions, shall be subordinate to the Committee in matters determined by the Council of Ministers of the USSR, taking into account the opinion of the Council of Ministers of the Azerbaijan SSR.
    • The press, radio and television, other mass media, publishing houses, printing enterprises, internal affairs organs, as well as institutions of culture, public education, healthcare, and other non-productive organizations, regardless of their subordination and departmental affiliation, shall operate under the direct supervision of the Committee or persons authorized by it.
    • The activities of the prosecutor’s office and courts in the territory of the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Region shall be carried out in accordance with current legislation and procedures established respectively by the Procurator General of the USSR, the Ministry of Justice of the USSR, and the Supreme Court of the USSR.
  4. To grant the Committee of Special Administration of the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Region the right:
    • to suspend the powers of district, city, rural, and settlement Councils of People’s Deputies of the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Region, their executive and administrative organs, and to appoint and organize elections to the said local Councils;
    • to suspend activities of public organizations and voluntary associations that contradict the Constitution and legislation of the USSR, or, if necessary, to dissolve them. Registration or dissolution of organizations and associations having republican or all-Union organs shall be carried out in coordination with those organs;
    • when necessary, to submit proposals on matters of state, economic, and socio-cultural development directly to the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, the Council of Ministers of the USSR, ministries, state committees, and departments of the USSR.
  5. To temporarily suspend in the territory of the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Region the effect of paragraphs 2 and 3 and the third subparagraph of paragraph 5 of Article 6, as well as Article 7 of the Law of the USSR “On State Enterprises (Associations).”
    • The Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the Azerbaijan SSR shall adopt the corresponding decisions arising from this Decree.

This Decree shall enter into force on January 20, 1989.

Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR — M. Gorbachev Secretary of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR — T. Menteshashvili

Published in Vedomosti of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, Moscow, No. 3, 1989, p. 14; Pravda (Moscow), January 12, 1989.

RESOLUTION OF THE SUPREME SOVIET OF THE ARMENIAN SSR

On Measures to Ensure the Security of the Armenian Population in the Azerbaijan SSR, the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Region, the Border Districts of the Armenian SSR, and Armenian Servicemen in the Soviet Army Yerevan, September 17, 1989

The Supreme Soviet of the Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic resolves:

  1. In view of the tense situation in the region, and considering that acts of violence, harassment, and killings committed against the Armenian population in the territory of the Azerbaijan SSR have not been halted by the measures taken thus far, the Supreme Soviet of the Armenian SSR appeals to the Supreme Soviet of the USSR with the demand to convene an extraordinary Congress of People’s Deputies of the USSR to examine this issue and to implement effective measures to ensure the safety of the Armenian population.
  2. The Supreme Soviet of the Armenian SSR appeals to the Supreme Soviet of the USSR to consider the decisions of the local Councils of People’s Deputies of the Shaumyan District and the Getashen Subdistrict of the Azerbaijan SSR, which are primarily motivated by the real threat to the life and security of the local Armenian population.
  3. In the border districts of the republic, with the participation of the administrative organs of the Armenian SSR, to convene extraordinary sessions of the district Councils of People’s Deputies to develop a program of joint measures to ensure the life and security of the population of the border districts.
  4. Taking into account that over the past year and a half numerous cases of killings, harassment, and beatings of servicemen of Armenian nationality have been recorded in the Soviet Army on the basis of national origin, the Supreme Soviet of the Armenian SSR appeals to the Supreme Soviet of the USSR with the demand to create real guarantees for the safety of the lives of servicemen of Armenian nationality serving in military units.
  5. To instruct the Procuracy of the Armenian SSR at the present session to report on the mass poisonings committed in the territory of the republic and on the results of their investigation.

Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the Armenian SSR — G. Voskanyan Secretary of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the Armenian SSR — N. Stepanyan

Published in Kommunist (Yerevan), September 23, 1989.

RESOLUTION OF THE SUPREME SOVIET OF THE ARMENIAN SSR

On Proposals Submitted to the Supreme Soviet of the USSR for the Resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Region (NKAO) Issue Yerevan, September 17, 1989

For the second year, the session of the Regional Council of People’s Deputies of the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Region, acting as the supreme authority of its Armenian population and exercising its inalienable and enduring right to free self-determination, adopted a decision to withdraw the region from the Azerbaijan SSR and to reunite with the Armenian SSR.

Proceeding from the principle that all peoples are equal and possess the right to determine their political status, and that the right of a state to territory must be based on the principle of free self-determination of peoples, who cannot be regarded as voiceless appendages of territory;

Firmly and unequivocally defending the Leninist principle of self-determination, enshrined in the Treaty on the Formation of the USSR and in the Constitution of the USSR as the foundation of interethnic relations in the multinational Soviet state;

Bearing in mind that the Soviet federation at all levels must be built on the basis of equality and free self-determination of peoples, which excludes the forcible retention of one people under the authority of another;

Recognizing that self-determination of peoples is the source of their friendship, while its denial leads to interethnic strife;

Taking into account that the meaning of perestroika in interethnic relations, the new political thinking, and the idea of creating a Soviet rule-of-law state are incompatible with the forcible retention of any people or part of a people within the borders of a state;

Proceeding from the fact that, in accordance with the Constitution of the USSR, the Treaty on the Formation of the Soviet Federation, as well as international legal obligations arising from the UN Charter, the Final Act of the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe, and a number of other international documents, all states without exception—including the subjects of the Soviet federation—are obliged to show due respect for the free will of peoples in choosing their political status and to actively facilitate the realization of the right of peoples to self-determination without any pressure and with full observance of human rights;

Since the question of the NKAO was raised not by Armenia but by the people of Nagorno-Karabakh themselves, it must be considered solely as a matter of the self-determination of a people;

Since Nagorno-Karabakh was included in the Azerbaijan SSR on the basis of an unlawful decision of a non-competent body—the Caucasian Bureau of the RCP(b)—on July 5, 1921, which violated the rights of the Armenians, who at that time constituted 95 percent of the region’s population;

Since the decision of the Regional Council of the NKAO of February 20, 1988, derives from the constitutional right of the population of the region to self-determination, and the Sumgait crime was nothing other than an attempt to intimidate the population of Nagorno-Karabakh through violence and to shift the issue into the sphere of interethnic conflict;

The Supreme Soviet of the Armenian SSR notes that the problem of the NKAO is not a matter of dispute between two neighboring republics, but a question of the will of the people of Nagorno-Karabakh, and must be resolved on the basis of the right of nations to self-determination.

On the basis of the above, the Supreme Soviet of the Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic resolves:

  1. To appeal to the Supreme Soviet of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, at its session convened in September of this year, to recognize the right of the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Region to self-determination, as expressed in the decisions of the sessions of the Regional Council of People’s Deputies of February 20 and July 12, 1988.
  2. To recognize the National Council, elected at the Congress of authorized representatives of the population of the NKAO, as the organ of popular authority representing the will and interests of the population of Artsakh until the restoration of the Regional Council of People’s Deputies.
  3. Taking into account that the roots of the interethnic problems arising in the region lie in treaties and decisions adopted unlawfully and in gross violation of elementary norms of international law in 1920–1921, to establish a special Commission of the Supreme Soviet of the Armenian SSR to study these treaties and decisions and to present proposals at the next session of the Supreme Soviet of the Armenian SSR.

Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the Armenian SSR — G. Voskanyan Secretary of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the Armenian SSR — I. Stepanyan

Published in Kommunist (Yerevan), September 23, 1989.

RESOLUTION OF THE PRESIDIUM OF THE SUPREME SOVIET OF THE USSR

On the Invalidity of Certain Provisions of the Resolution of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the Azerbaijan SSR of December 4, 1989 “On Measures to Normalize the Situation in the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Region of the Azerbaijan SSR” January 10, 1990

The Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR notes that in the Resolution of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the Azerbaijan SSR of December 4, 1989, “On Measures to Normalize the Situation in the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Region of the Azerbaijan SSR,” the suspension of certain provisions of the Resolution of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of November 28, 1989, “On Measures to Normalize the Situation in the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Region,” was carried out unlawfully.

Guided by Articles 73 and 76 of the Constitution of the USSR, the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR resolves:

  1. To recognize that the Resolution of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the Azerbaijan SSR of December 4, 1989, “On Measures to Normalize the Situation in the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Region of the Azerbaijan SSR,” insofar as it suspends the effect of certain provisions in paragraphs 3, 4, 6, and 7 of the Resolution of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of November 23, 1989, does not conform to the Constitution of the USSR and, by virtue of Article 173 of the Constitution of the USSR, cannot be in force on the territory of the republic.
  2. On the basis of paragraph 5 of Article 119 of the Constitution of the USSR, to propose to the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the Azerbaijan SSR to bring its Resolution of December 4, 1989, into conformity with the Constitution of the USSR.

Chairman of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR — M. S. Gorbachev

Moscow, Kremlin, January 10, 1990. No. 1049-1. Published in Izvestia (Moscow), January 11, 1990.

FROM THE DECREE OF THE PRESIDIUM OF THE SUPREME SOVIET OF THE USSR

“On the Declaration of a State of Emergency in the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Region and Certain Other Districts” January 15, 1990

[…]

In view of the above, and taking into account the appeal of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the Azerbaijan SSR, and guided by paragraph 14 of Article 119 of the Constitution of the USSR, the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR decrees:

To declare a state of emergency in the territory of the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Region, in the adjoining districts of the Azerbaijan SSR, in the Goris District of the Armenian SSR, as well as in the border zone along the state frontier of the USSR within the territory of the Azerbaijan SSR.

To grant the organs of state power and administration, other duly authorized state bodies, and officials in the localities specified in Article 1 of this Decree the right to apply the following measures:

  • prohibit assemblies, meetings, street marches, demonstrations, as well as theatrical, entertainment, sporting, and other mass events;
  • exercise control over the mass media;
  • suspend or dissolve organizations and voluntary associations of citizens whose activities contradict the law;
  • mobilize citizens for work in enterprises, institutions, and organizations, as well as for the elimination of the consequences of emergency circumstances;
  • prohibit strikes;
  • introduce a curfew;
  • restrict entry and exit of citizens, temporarily resettle citizens from areas dangerous for habitation, providing them with alternative housing;
  • require citizens not residing in the locality to leave it;
  • restrict the movement of vehicles, regulate and carry out their inspection;
  • introduce document checks, and in necessary cases, when sufficient grounds exist regarding possession of weapons and refusal to surrender them voluntarily, conduct personal searches of citizens and inspections of belongings;
  • temporarily confiscate from citizens, and in necessary cases from enterprises, institutions, and organizations, firearms and cold weapons, ammunition, explosives and materials, potent chemical and poisonous substances;
  • restrict or prohibit the use of duplicating equipment, as well as radio and television transmitting apparatus, and introduce special rules for the use of communications.

3. During curfew hours, citizens are not permitted to be on the streets or in other public places without specially issued passes and identity documents, nor to be outside their residences without identity documents.

4. For the elimination of the consequences of emergency circumstances, the protection of citizens’ rights, the safeguarding of public order and security, and the protection of vital facilities of the population, the internal troops of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the USSR shall be deployed in accordance with the law. For the protection of citizens and vital facilities, military units of the Soviet Army, the Navy, and the Committee for State Security of the USSR shall also be deployed. The internal troops of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the USSR and the military units of the Soviet Army, the Navy, and the Committee for State Security of the USSR shall act on the basis of the Constitution of the USSR, and shall be guided by laws, statutes, and this Decree.

5. Persons who provoke violations of public order, spread provocative rumors, or actively obstruct citizens and officials in the exercise of their lawful rights and duties, or who violate the regime of the state of emergency, may be detained administratively for up to 30 days. Such persons may be subject to administrative or criminal liability in accordance with the law.

6. To ensure uninterrupted operation of transport, to introduce protection of railways and other communications with the involvement of the internal troops of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the USSR, the Soviet Army, and the Committee for State Security of the USSR.

7. To propose to the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the Azerbaijan SSR to take all necessary measures, including the introduction of curfew in the cities of Baku, Ganja, and other localities, to ensure the safety of the population, enterprises, institutions, and organizations, and to hold accountable those guilty of violating the requirements of current legislation, including the Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of November 23, 1988, “On Urgent Measures to Restore Public Order in the Azerbaijan SSR and the Armenian SSR” (Vedomosti of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, 1988, No. 47, Article 712).

To require the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the Armenian SSR to take the most resolute steps to suppress incitement from the territory of that republic, which inflames interethnic passions and national hostility between the two peoples.

Published in Izvestia (Moscow), January 16, 1990, No. 17 (22920). 732

Yuri Barsegov “Nagorno-Karabakh in International Law and Global Politics”

Artatsolum

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