It is Not Quantity and Size that Matters but Quality …

• 01.16.2015, 17:28
•  NKR,  Info

From the series of “Internationally recognized small countries”

The value of life lies in the ability to see the diversity around you. The world is very rich with diversity of colors and paints, events and phenomena. Maybe this diversity – where others have the right to be different- constitutes the main philosophy of coexistence in the world. Countries can be both big and small. There are countries that occupy almost a whole continent and there are also the ones, in which its one border can be seen from another border. They have such a small territory that one can cross the whole country on foot. However, they are not decorative countries at all. Many of them are full members of the UN and other international organizations. They have all the attributes for statehood, and have the right to participate in the Olympic Games with their teams, which sometimes consist of 1-2 people. In spite of this, can one determine this or that value of the country based only on quantity and size? Is it the numbers and size that define the degree of state’s development?

Countries, that have a small territory, are called microstates. Their definition reads in the following way: microstates are the ones that according to some criteria fall behind other states, for example, with territory, population, etc. Based on the surface of the country, microstates are called those ones, which by the size of their territory fall behind Luxemburg. Luxemburg, which has a surface of 2586 km, sometimes is also listed among microstates.

However, there are also a lot of internationally recognized countries whose territories fall behind Luxemburg. City-state Vatican occupies only 0.44 sq km. The smallest country in the world is in the territory of Rome, but it is completely independent from Italy. Though Vatican is recognized as an independent country, it is not a UN member or a member of other international organization; it is not a signatory to any international agreements, as it is a sovereign territory of the Holy See. The Holy See has diplomatic relations with 174 countries. However, it is not only Vatican, which due to its special status, have the right to be internationally recognized.

The countries like Andorra (468 sq km), Malta (316 sq km), Liechtenstein (157 sq km), San Marino (61 sq km), Monaco (2.02 sq km), Singapore (648 sq km), Bahrain (620 sq km), Maldives (300 sq km), Dominic Republic (754 sq km), Saint Lucia (620 sq km), Antigua and Barbuda (442 sq km), Nauru (21 sq km), Barbados (430 sq km), Grenada (344 sq km), Tuvalu (26 sq km) and tens of such countries with small territories not only have all the features of statehood, but also are UN full members.

In case of comparison of territories of the aforementioned states, for example, with the unrecognized Nagorno-Karabakh Republic, we will be obliged to state that the NKR, whose territory is 11 thousand sq km, is much bigger, than many recognized countries. In this case the argument of those, who oppose the statehood of NKR contending that one cannot recognize a country with territory of one inch, losses its credibility.

There are countries in the world, where the people, who reside there, are important, not its size counted in kilometers. By the way, it is the exact argument, that the Azerbaijani representatives always forget when they view Karabakh as a territory, and not as a place, where people live with their own wishes and requirements. If viewed from this perspective the number of kilometers does not matter.

According to the statistics, one needs only 56 minutes to cross the territory of such country like Monaco. And is there anyone who would doubt that Monaco is a self-sufficient country?

Another microstate in Europe is Andorra, for which France and Spain were struggling. One can cross this country in 30 minutes by car. The population of Andorra is about 80 thousand, 84% of which are foreigners, who have permanent residency rights there. Natives in Andorra are only 11 thousand people. Landlocked Andorra today does not even have its own currency, airport and entrance visa, in spite of this...

In 1993 Andorra adopted a new Constitution, which strengthened its de facto independence. The same year Andorra became a UN member, and since 1994 it has become a full member of the Council of Europe.

In this case what is the characteristic of statehood? If the international community recognizes a country, whose 80% of the population is foreigners and which does not have its own attributes, is there a need to doubt, that the time will come, when the world will be obliged to recognize NKR? This is not because its territory is greater than Monaco's, that its population is more native, than Andorra’s or its army is larger, that the whole population of Tuvalu. No. There are more important things in the world than just numbers. These are people and their rights, their freedom, independence, the will of the nation and the recognition of the right of being other's other. And when these values will prevail, even a country like Azerbaijan will have to get used to it, as it is not the numbers and the size  in the world that decide everything.

By Karin Stepanyan