YEREVAN, November 26. /ARKA/. The leader of the Bright Armenia opposition parliamentary party Edmon Marukyan told the journalists today why the Armenian parliament would not recognize Nagorno-Karabakh for many years.
He said that the parliamentarians were not to blame for that, recalling that ex-MP Zaruhi Postanjyan would repeatedly ask her colleagues to recognize the independence of Nagorno-Karabakh.
“We were told off-record that the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairing countries were against recognition. Then other initiatives were discussed, and again the same answer was received. Then the April war began (Azerbaijan’s attack on Artsakh in April 2016), we again discussed this proposal and again we were told by the Armenian government and the foreign ministry that the co-chairing countries were against,” Marukyan said.
Marukyan asked why no one was reacting to the recent statement by Russian President Vladimir Putin that “the fact of non-recognition of Karabakh by Armenia left an imprint on the course of events and on its perception.”
“Nobody denies this, nobody says anything about Vladimir Putin’s statement and doesn’t comment at all,” Marukyan said.
He called on the Armenian authorities (including the former ones) to say whether the OSCE co-chairs – Russia, the USA and France – were really against the recognition of Artsakh’s independence?
Marukyan also commented on the adoption by the French Senate of the resolution on the independence of Karabakh, calling it “a very good resolution”.
“However, in this situation, I have many questions. For example, within what borders will Artsakh be recognized? After all, Artsakh existed within the borders, according to its Constitution, which included all those territories that are being handed back to Azerbaijan now under the trilateral statement on ending the war,’ Marukyan noted.
On November 25 the French Senate with an overwhelming majority of votes adopted a resolution recognizing the independence of Nagorno-Karabakh (Artsakh). The document, in particular, condemns the Azerbaijani-Turkish military aggression unleashed on September 27 against Artsakh with the participation of terrorist mercenaries and calls on the French government to take all possible measures to ensure the restoration of the borders of Nagorno-Karabakh established in 1994.
Resolutions of the Senate (the upper chamber of the French parliament) are advisory in nature, they can be taken into account by the executive branch, but are not binding. -0-