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International Law, Recognition and the Recent Practice of States in the Cases of Kosovo, South Ossetia and Abkhazia

Year 2016, Volume: 8 Issue: 14, 19 - 46, 15.03.2016

Abstract

This work will examine the recent state practice of recognition in the case of Kosovo, South Ossetia and Abkhazia. Recognition despite its purely declaratory role in nature has been instrumentalized to advance legitimacy quests by secessionist movements. The recognition acts and the secessionist movements have led to interpretations of international law in terms of secession, self-determination of peoples and the nature of recognition. Diverging interpretations of international law due to political motifs contribute to further freezing and inhibiting the resolution of conflicts. Increasingly, the question of contested statehood moves to the forefront in international relations, as law by itself is not able to provide adequate answers to resolve these conflicts. Recognition has filled this void to consolidate claims of statehood.

References

  • Almqvist, Jessica. “The Politics of Recognition, Kosovo and International Law“Working Paper 14 for the Real Instituto Eleano, 2009.
  • Badinter Commission, Opinion N°2, http://207.57.19.226/journal/Vol3/No1/ art13.html
  • Benedek, Wolfgang. “Implications of the Independence of Kosovo for Interna- tional Law”: 407, in International Law between Universalism and Fragmen- tation, Festschrift in Honour of Gerhard Hafner, ed. Isabelle Buffard et al. (Leiden : IDC Publishers, 2009) : 391-412.
  • Bogomir, „La Russie reconnaît l’indépendance de l’Abkhazie et de l’Ossétie du Sud“, August 26, 2008, http://www.theatrum-belli.com/archive/2008/08/26/ la-russie-reconnait-l-independance-de-l-abkhazie-et-de-l-oss.html
  • Caspersen, Nina and Gareth Stansfield, Unrecognized States in the Interna- tional System. New York: Routledge, 2011.
  • Constitution of the Republic of Serbia of 8 November 2006, see Preambular and Art. 176 onwards, http://www.wipo.int/wipolex/en/text.jsp?file_id=191258
  • Corten, Olivier. “La reconnaissance prématurée du Kosovo: une violation du droit international”, Brussels : Le Soir, February 20, 2008 Council of the European Union, Press release 18 February 2008, 6946/08, www.consilium.europa.eu/uedocs/cms_data/docs/pressdata/en/gena/98818. pdf
  • Crawford, James. “State practice and international law in relation to succes- sion”, British Year Book of International Law 69 (1998): 85-117
  • Crawford, James. The Creation of States in International Law. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2nd Edition, 2006.
  • Declaration of Alexander Grouchko, PC.DEL/547/08, July 1, 2008, http:// www.osce.org/cio/32636
  • Declaration of the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation, “Recognition of South Ossetia and Abkhazia”, August 26, 2008, www.mid.ru
  • Degan, Vladimir-Djuro. Création et disparition de l’Etat (à la lumière du dé- membrement des trois fédérations multiethniques en Europe), Académie de droit international, Recueil des cours 279, La Haye, 1999
  • Dugard, John. Recognition and the United Nations. Cambridge : Grotius Pub- lications, 1987.
  • Fabry, Mikulas. “The contemporary practice of state recognition: Kosovo, South Ossetia, Abkhazia, and their aftermath”. Nationalities Papers: The Journal of Nationalism and Ethnicity (2012): 661-676
  • Fabry, Mikulas. Recognizing States: International Society and the Establish- ment of New States Since 1776. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2010.
  • Fisch, Jörg. Das Selbstbestimmungsrecht der Völker: die Domestizierung ein- er Illusion. München: C.H. Beck, 2010.
  • Guildhaudis, Jean-François. Le droit des peuples à disposer d’eux-mêmes. Grenoble : Presses Universitaires de Grenoble, 1976.
  • Halbach, Uwe.“”Georgienkrise” und “Kaukasuskonflikt”: Die regionale Di- mension des neuerlichen Kriegs im Südkaukasus”, EJM 1 (2009): 4-19
  • Herdegen, Matthias. Völkerrecht. München: C.H. Beck, 8th edition, 2009. Hille, Saskia. Völkerrechtliche Probleme der Staatenanerkennung bei den ehemaligen jugoslawischen Teilrepubliken. Münich: VVF, 1996.
  • Hobe, Stephan, and Otto Kimminich, Einführung in das Völkerrecht. Tübin- gen: A. Francke Verlag, 8th Edition, 2004. http://inserbia.info/news/2013/04/ belgrade-kosovo-agreement-text-published/
  • ICJ, Jugdment on “Application of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (Bosnia and Herzegovina v. Ser- bia and Montenegro), July 11, 1996, http://www.icj-cij.org/docket/index. php?p1=3&k=8d&p3=4&case=91
  • ICJ, Verbatim Records, CR 2009/24, Advisory Opinion on the Kosovo case, http://www.icj-cij.org/docket/files/141/15711.pdf International Court of Justice (ICJ), Advisory Opinion. “Legal Consequences of the Construction of a Wall in the Occupied Palestinian Territory”, July 9, 2004, http://www.icj-cij.org/docket/index.php?/docket/index.php?pr=71&p1 =3&p2=4&case=131&code=mwp&p3=4
  • International Monetary Fund (IMF), Press release 09/240, “Kosovo Becomes the International Monetary Fund’s 186th Member”, June 29, 2009, http://www. imf.org/external/np/sec/pr/2009/pr09240.htm
  • Jellinek, Georg. Allgemeine Staatslehre. Darmstadt: Wissenschaftliche Buch- gesellschaft, 1956. Karl, Wolfram and Christian Pippan. “Selbstbestimmung, Sezession und Anerkennung: Völkerrechtliche Aspekte der Unabhängigkeit des Kosovo (I)”, EJM 3 (2008): 149-164
  • Karl, Wolfram and Christian Pippan. “Selbstbestimmung, Sezession und Anerkennung: Völkerrechtliche Aspekte der Unabhängigkeit des Kosovo (II)“, EJM 4 (2008): 211-224
  • Kelsen, Hans. “Recognition in International Law: Theoretical Observations”, AJIL 35/4 (1941): 605-617.
  • Knoll, Bernhard. “Kosovo: Statusprozess und Ausblikc auf die staatliche Sou- veränität“, OSCE Core Year Book (2008).
  • Kosovo Thanks You.. http://www.kosovothanksyou.com/, last consultation: July 20, 2013.
  • Krueger, Heiko. “Implications of Kosovo, Abkhazia and South Ossetia for International Law: The Conduct of the Community of States in Current Seces- sion Conflicts”, in http://www.cria-online.org/7_2.html.
  • L’Express, „La Russie reconnaît l’indépendance de l’Abkhazie et de l’Ossétie du Sud“, August 26, 2008, http://www.lexpress.fr/actualite/monde/eu- rope/la-russie-reconnait-l-independance-de-l-abkhazie-et-de-l-ossetie-du- sud_554388.html
  • Lippold, Matthias and and Mindia Vashakmadze. “”Nothing but a road to- wards secession”? – The International Court of Justice’s Advisory Opinion on Accordance with International Law of the Unilateral Declaration of Inde- pendence in Respect of Kosovo”, Göttingen Journal of International Law 2 (2010): 619-647
  • Lombart, Laurent. L’Uti Possidetis Juris et la mémoire des frontières en droit international. Provence :Centre d’Études et de Recherches Internationales et Communautaires, 2005.
  • Milena Stoiljkovic, “Belgrade – Kosovo agreement text published”, April 19, 2013,
  • Montevideo Convention. “On the Rights and Duties of States”, December 26, 1933, http://www.cfr.org/sovereignty/montevideo-convention-rights-duties- states/p15897 Nguyen et al., Droit international public, Paris : LGDJ, 7th edition, 2002.
  • Nussberger, Angelika. “The War between Russia and Georgia – Consequence and Unresolved Questions”, Göttingen Journal of International Law 1-2 (2009): 341-364 Organization of American States, Charta, http://www.oas.org/dil/ treaties_A-41_Charter_of_the_Organization_of_American_States.htm
  • Ott, Martin. Das Recht auf Sezession als Ausfluss des Selbstbestimmungsrechts der Völker. Berlin: BWV, 2008. Parameswaran, Katharina. “Der Rechtsstatus des Kosovo im Lichte der aktu- ellen Entwicklungen“Archiv des Völkerrechts 46 (2008): 172-204
  • Pegg, Scott. International Society and the De Facto State. Aldershot : Ashgate, 1998. Report of the International Fact-Finding Mission on the Conflict in Georgia, Vol.II, September 30, 2009, 129: http://www.ceiig.ch/Report.html
  • Ryngaert, Cedric and Sven Sobrie. “Recognition of States: International Law or Realpolitik? The Practice of Recognition in the Wake of Kosovo, South Os- setia, and Abkhazia”, Leiden Journal of International Law 24 (2011): 467-493
  • Schaller, Christian. “Die Sezession des Kosovo und der völkerrechtliche Sta- tus der internationalen Präsenz“, Archiv des Völkerrechts 46 (2008): 131-171
  • Schulze, Peter W.. “Geopolitics at Work: the Georgian-Russian Conflict”, Göt- tingen Journal of International Law 1-2 (2009): 329-340
  • Seshagiri, Lee. “Democratic Disobedience: Reconceiving Self-Determination and Secession in International Law”, Harvard International Law Journal 51/2 (2010)
  • Statement at Conference in Ekaterinburg, “Joint Statement of the Foreign Ministers of India, Russia and China, regarding Kosovo”, May 15, 2008
  • Sur, Serge. “L’affaire du Kosovo et le droit international : points et con- trepoints », Annuaire français de droit internationale 45 (1999) : 280-291.
  • The Associated Press, “Rice Text on Kosovo”, USA Today, February 18, 2008, http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/washington/2008-02-18-755882181_x. htm
  • The Minsk Agreement, signed by the Head of State of Belarus, the Russian Federation and Ukraine on December 8, 1991, http://lcweb2.loc.gov/frd/cs/ belarus/by_appnb.html
  • Tomuschat, Christian. “Self-Determination in a Post-Colonial World“in Mod- ern Law of Self-Determination, ed. Christian Tomuschat, Boston: 1993.
  • UN Document, S/1999/648, “Interim Agreement for Peace and Self-Govern- ment in Kosovo”, June 7, 1999, http://www.un.org/peace/kosovo/99648_4.pdf
  • UN General Assembly, Resolution 2625 (XXV), “The Declaration on Prin- ciples of International Law concerning Friendly Relations and Co-operation Bilge Strateji, Cilt 8, Sayı 14, Bahar 2016
  • International Law, Recognition and the Recent Practice of States among States”, October 24, 1970, http://daccess-dds-ny.un.org/doc/RESOLU- TION/GEN/NR0/348/90/IMG/NR034890.pdf?OpenElement UN Secretary General, „Report of the Secretary General on the Situation in Abkhazia, Georgia“, May 3, 1994, http://daccess-dds-ny.un.org/doc/UNDOC/ GEN/N94/202/07/IMG/N9420207.pdf?OpenElement
  • Vivodtzev, Dimitri. „Nauru et le “business diplomatique”„, March 31, 2011, http://dimitri-vivodtzev.suite101.fr/nauru-et-le-business-diplomatique- a26935

Uluslararası Hukuk, Tanınma ve Kosova, Güney Osetya ve Abhazya Örnekleriyle Devletlerin Son Tecrübeleri

Year 2016, Volume: 8 Issue: 14, 19 - 46, 15.03.2016

Abstract

Bu çalışmada Kosova-Güney Osetya-Abhazya örnekleriyle devletlerin tanınmasına yönelik son tecrübeleri incelenmiştir. Diplomatik tanınma, doğasında bütünüyle izah edilebilen bir rol barındırmasına rağmen ayrılıkçı hareketlerin meşruluk arayışını araçsallaştırmasını sağlamıştır. Tanınma girişimleri ve ayrılıkçı hareketler, uluslararası hukukun “ayrılma”, “halkların kendi kaderini tayini” ve “tanınmanın doğası” yönünde yorumlanmasına yol açmıştır. Uluslararası hukukun politik nedenlerden dolayı farklı yorumlanması, çatışmaların çözümünün dondurulmasını ve engellenmesini artırmıştır. Tartışmaya açık devlet olma girişimleri sorunu, hukukun tek başına çatışmanın çözümüne yeterli olamamasından dolayı gittikçe uluslararası ilişkilerin temel sorunlarından biri olmaya başlamıştır. Dolayısıyla diplomatik tanınma, devlet olma talebindeki iddiayı emniyet altına alarak boşluğu tamamlamıştır.

References

  • Almqvist, Jessica. “The Politics of Recognition, Kosovo and International Law“Working Paper 14 for the Real Instituto Eleano, 2009.
  • Badinter Commission, Opinion N°2, http://207.57.19.226/journal/Vol3/No1/ art13.html
  • Benedek, Wolfgang. “Implications of the Independence of Kosovo for Interna- tional Law”: 407, in International Law between Universalism and Fragmen- tation, Festschrift in Honour of Gerhard Hafner, ed. Isabelle Buffard et al. (Leiden : IDC Publishers, 2009) : 391-412.
  • Bogomir, „La Russie reconnaît l’indépendance de l’Abkhazie et de l’Ossétie du Sud“, August 26, 2008, http://www.theatrum-belli.com/archive/2008/08/26/ la-russie-reconnait-l-independance-de-l-abkhazie-et-de-l-oss.html
  • Caspersen, Nina and Gareth Stansfield, Unrecognized States in the Interna- tional System. New York: Routledge, 2011.
  • Constitution of the Republic of Serbia of 8 November 2006, see Preambular and Art. 176 onwards, http://www.wipo.int/wipolex/en/text.jsp?file_id=191258
  • Corten, Olivier. “La reconnaissance prématurée du Kosovo: une violation du droit international”, Brussels : Le Soir, February 20, 2008 Council of the European Union, Press release 18 February 2008, 6946/08, www.consilium.europa.eu/uedocs/cms_data/docs/pressdata/en/gena/98818. pdf
  • Crawford, James. “State practice and international law in relation to succes- sion”, British Year Book of International Law 69 (1998): 85-117
  • Crawford, James. The Creation of States in International Law. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2nd Edition, 2006.
  • Declaration of Alexander Grouchko, PC.DEL/547/08, July 1, 2008, http:// www.osce.org/cio/32636
  • Declaration of the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation, “Recognition of South Ossetia and Abkhazia”, August 26, 2008, www.mid.ru
  • Degan, Vladimir-Djuro. Création et disparition de l’Etat (à la lumière du dé- membrement des trois fédérations multiethniques en Europe), Académie de droit international, Recueil des cours 279, La Haye, 1999
  • Dugard, John. Recognition and the United Nations. Cambridge : Grotius Pub- lications, 1987.
  • Fabry, Mikulas. “The contemporary practice of state recognition: Kosovo, South Ossetia, Abkhazia, and their aftermath”. Nationalities Papers: The Journal of Nationalism and Ethnicity (2012): 661-676
  • Fabry, Mikulas. Recognizing States: International Society and the Establish- ment of New States Since 1776. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2010.
  • Fisch, Jörg. Das Selbstbestimmungsrecht der Völker: die Domestizierung ein- er Illusion. München: C.H. Beck, 2010.
  • Guildhaudis, Jean-François. Le droit des peuples à disposer d’eux-mêmes. Grenoble : Presses Universitaires de Grenoble, 1976.
  • Halbach, Uwe.“”Georgienkrise” und “Kaukasuskonflikt”: Die regionale Di- mension des neuerlichen Kriegs im Südkaukasus”, EJM 1 (2009): 4-19
  • Herdegen, Matthias. Völkerrecht. München: C.H. Beck, 8th edition, 2009. Hille, Saskia. Völkerrechtliche Probleme der Staatenanerkennung bei den ehemaligen jugoslawischen Teilrepubliken. Münich: VVF, 1996.
  • Hobe, Stephan, and Otto Kimminich, Einführung in das Völkerrecht. Tübin- gen: A. Francke Verlag, 8th Edition, 2004. http://inserbia.info/news/2013/04/ belgrade-kosovo-agreement-text-published/
  • ICJ, Jugdment on “Application of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (Bosnia and Herzegovina v. Ser- bia and Montenegro), July 11, 1996, http://www.icj-cij.org/docket/index. php?p1=3&k=8d&p3=4&case=91
  • ICJ, Verbatim Records, CR 2009/24, Advisory Opinion on the Kosovo case, http://www.icj-cij.org/docket/files/141/15711.pdf International Court of Justice (ICJ), Advisory Opinion. “Legal Consequences of the Construction of a Wall in the Occupied Palestinian Territory”, July 9, 2004, http://www.icj-cij.org/docket/index.php?/docket/index.php?pr=71&p1 =3&p2=4&case=131&code=mwp&p3=4
  • International Monetary Fund (IMF), Press release 09/240, “Kosovo Becomes the International Monetary Fund’s 186th Member”, June 29, 2009, http://www. imf.org/external/np/sec/pr/2009/pr09240.htm
  • Jellinek, Georg. Allgemeine Staatslehre. Darmstadt: Wissenschaftliche Buch- gesellschaft, 1956. Karl, Wolfram and Christian Pippan. “Selbstbestimmung, Sezession und Anerkennung: Völkerrechtliche Aspekte der Unabhängigkeit des Kosovo (I)”, EJM 3 (2008): 149-164
  • Karl, Wolfram and Christian Pippan. “Selbstbestimmung, Sezession und Anerkennung: Völkerrechtliche Aspekte der Unabhängigkeit des Kosovo (II)“, EJM 4 (2008): 211-224
  • Kelsen, Hans. “Recognition in International Law: Theoretical Observations”, AJIL 35/4 (1941): 605-617.
  • Knoll, Bernhard. “Kosovo: Statusprozess und Ausblikc auf die staatliche Sou- veränität“, OSCE Core Year Book (2008).
  • Kosovo Thanks You.. http://www.kosovothanksyou.com/, last consultation: July 20, 2013.
  • Krueger, Heiko. “Implications of Kosovo, Abkhazia and South Ossetia for International Law: The Conduct of the Community of States in Current Seces- sion Conflicts”, in http://www.cria-online.org/7_2.html.
  • L’Express, „La Russie reconnaît l’indépendance de l’Abkhazie et de l’Ossétie du Sud“, August 26, 2008, http://www.lexpress.fr/actualite/monde/eu- rope/la-russie-reconnait-l-independance-de-l-abkhazie-et-de-l-ossetie-du- sud_554388.html
  • Lippold, Matthias and and Mindia Vashakmadze. “”Nothing but a road to- wards secession”? – The International Court of Justice’s Advisory Opinion on Accordance with International Law of the Unilateral Declaration of Inde- pendence in Respect of Kosovo”, Göttingen Journal of International Law 2 (2010): 619-647
  • Lombart, Laurent. L’Uti Possidetis Juris et la mémoire des frontières en droit international. Provence :Centre d’Études et de Recherches Internationales et Communautaires, 2005.
  • Milena Stoiljkovic, “Belgrade – Kosovo agreement text published”, April 19, 2013,
  • Montevideo Convention. “On the Rights and Duties of States”, December 26, 1933, http://www.cfr.org/sovereignty/montevideo-convention-rights-duties- states/p15897 Nguyen et al., Droit international public, Paris : LGDJ, 7th edition, 2002.
  • Nussberger, Angelika. “The War between Russia and Georgia – Consequence and Unresolved Questions”, Göttingen Journal of International Law 1-2 (2009): 341-364 Organization of American States, Charta, http://www.oas.org/dil/ treaties_A-41_Charter_of_the_Organization_of_American_States.htm
  • Ott, Martin. Das Recht auf Sezession als Ausfluss des Selbstbestimmungsrechts der Völker. Berlin: BWV, 2008. Parameswaran, Katharina. “Der Rechtsstatus des Kosovo im Lichte der aktu- ellen Entwicklungen“Archiv des Völkerrechts 46 (2008): 172-204
  • Pegg, Scott. International Society and the De Facto State. Aldershot : Ashgate, 1998. Report of the International Fact-Finding Mission on the Conflict in Georgia, Vol.II, September 30, 2009, 129: http://www.ceiig.ch/Report.html
  • Ryngaert, Cedric and Sven Sobrie. “Recognition of States: International Law or Realpolitik? The Practice of Recognition in the Wake of Kosovo, South Os- setia, and Abkhazia”, Leiden Journal of International Law 24 (2011): 467-493
  • Schaller, Christian. “Die Sezession des Kosovo und der völkerrechtliche Sta- tus der internationalen Präsenz“, Archiv des Völkerrechts 46 (2008): 131-171
  • Schulze, Peter W.. “Geopolitics at Work: the Georgian-Russian Conflict”, Göt- tingen Journal of International Law 1-2 (2009): 329-340
  • Seshagiri, Lee. “Democratic Disobedience: Reconceiving Self-Determination and Secession in International Law”, Harvard International Law Journal 51/2 (2010)
  • Statement at Conference in Ekaterinburg, “Joint Statement of the Foreign Ministers of India, Russia and China, regarding Kosovo”, May 15, 2008
  • Sur, Serge. “L’affaire du Kosovo et le droit international : points et con- trepoints », Annuaire français de droit internationale 45 (1999) : 280-291.
  • The Associated Press, “Rice Text on Kosovo”, USA Today, February 18, 2008, http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/washington/2008-02-18-755882181_x. htm
  • The Minsk Agreement, signed by the Head of State of Belarus, the Russian Federation and Ukraine on December 8, 1991, http://lcweb2.loc.gov/frd/cs/ belarus/by_appnb.html
  • Tomuschat, Christian. “Self-Determination in a Post-Colonial World“in Mod- ern Law of Self-Determination, ed. Christian Tomuschat, Boston: 1993.
  • UN Document, S/1999/648, “Interim Agreement for Peace and Self-Govern- ment in Kosovo”, June 7, 1999, http://www.un.org/peace/kosovo/99648_4.pdf
  • UN General Assembly, Resolution 2625 (XXV), “The Declaration on Prin- ciples of International Law concerning Friendly Relations and Co-operation Bilge Strateji, Cilt 8, Sayı 14, Bahar 2016
  • International Law, Recognition and the Recent Practice of States among States”, October 24, 1970, http://daccess-dds-ny.un.org/doc/RESOLU- TION/GEN/NR0/348/90/IMG/NR034890.pdf?OpenElement UN Secretary General, „Report of the Secretary General on the Situation in Abkhazia, Georgia“, May 3, 1994, http://daccess-dds-ny.un.org/doc/UNDOC/ GEN/N94/202/07/IMG/N9420207.pdf?OpenElement
  • Vivodtzev, Dimitri. „Nauru et le “business diplomatique”„, March 31, 2011, http://dimitri-vivodtzev.suite101.fr/nauru-et-le-business-diplomatique- a26935
There are 50 citations in total.

Details

Primary Language English
Subjects Law in Context
Journal Section Articles
Authors

Stephan A. Nunner This is me

Publication Date March 15, 2016
Submission Date September 15, 2015
Acceptance Date February 1, 2016
Published in Issue Year 2016 Volume: 8 Issue: 14

Cite

APA A. Nunner, S. (2016). International Law, Recognition and the Recent Practice of States in the Cases of Kosovo, South Ossetia and Abkhazia. Bilge Strateji, 8(14), 19-46.