Nagorno-Karabakh parliament urges Pashinyan to reject concessions to Azerbaijan

Any change of the status of Nagorno-Karabakh is unacceptable; it will deprive residents of the unrecognized republic of the right to live freely and independently, the local MPs have stated. They called on the Prime Minister of Armenia to refuse negotiations with Azerbaijan, where the issue of the loss of independence of Nagorno-Karabakh is discussed.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on April 6, a meeting of the Azerbaijani President, Ilham Aliev, with the Armenian Premier, Nikol Pashinyan, took place in Brussels. As a result of the talks, both parties agreed to set up, by the end of April, a bilateral commission for delimitation of mutual borders and starting drafting a peace agreement.

On April 14, the Nagorno-Karabakh parliament held an extraordinary session, where 33 MPs unanimously adopted a special statement. It notes that "the statehood of Artsakh (the self-name of Nagorno-Karabakh) and the right to live freely and independently in the historical homeland are absolute values." "Any negotiation process on the forcible annexation of Artsakh, [...] as well as signing a document arising from it, undermines not only the Artsakh statehood, but also the inalienable right of Artsakh Armenians to live in their historical homeland," the document says.

The Nagorno-Karabakh MPs have called on Armenian authorities to "renounce their current catastrophic position." "Not a single government has the right, under the pretext of peace, to lower the bar for negotiations on a status unacceptable for Artsakh, as well as on an internationally recognized right to self-determination," the Nagorno-Karabakh MPs have stated.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on April 14, 2022 at 11:46 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.