Artsakh Parliament baffled by EC president`s  `distortion` of  Karabakh settlement process

ArmInfo.The four factions in Artsakh's parliament  issued a statement voicing their collective chagrin with President of  the European Council Charles Michel, whom they claim is distorting  the "essence of the Karabakh conflict settlement" and the processes  that have taken place during the past 30 years that ensured, among  other things, Artsakh's right to self-determination, asbarez.com  reports.

Michel issued a statement Monday summing up the results of a meeting  he hosted with Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and President Ilham  Aliyev of Azerbaijan, who agreed to fast track discussion on the  demarcation and elimination of the borders between the two countries,  as well as the so-called "peace talks" that recently have dominated  the discourse around the Karabakh conflict settlement issue.

"The unified position of the people and authorities of Artsakh was  presented in a statement by the [Artsakh] National Assembly dated  April 14 of this year, thereby confirming that the agenda of  discussions and negotiations held through international institutions  were acceptable to us only if they they correspond to the provisions  laid out waiting the said statement," explains the Artsakh  parliamentary blocs.

"Charles Michel's statement on the results of the recent trilateral  meeting in Brussels is baffling since it distorts the essence of the  settlement of the Karabakh conflict and its legacy accumulated over  30 years through the negotiation processes," the statement  emphasized.

"For the first time in the negotiation discourse, an attempt is being  made to abandon the political and geographical concept of  'Nagorno-Karabakh' and the phrase 'ethnic Armenian population of  Karabakh' has been introduced. All this is completely in line with  the positions articulate by the leadership of Azerbaijan prior to the  Brussels meeting and recently in general, and demonstrates a retreat  by the current authorities of Armenia on its foreign policy front,"  the statement pointed out.

"The active role of the European Council in the issue of opening the  'era of peace' between Armenia and Azerbaijan at an accelerated pace  could be understood if the response to the aggression provoked by  Azerbaijan against the people of the Republic of Artsakh in September  2020 were vocalized with the same consistency. The emphasis on  security and protection of rights during the 44-day war would have  been acceptable to some extent for the people of Artsakh, who were  defending their sovereignty," emphasized the Artsakh lawmakers.

In the current circumstances, the authorities of Armenia are obliged  to act solely from the standpoint of promoting and protecting the  rights of the Artsakh people to self-determination in international  instances, based on the decision of the Supreme Council of the  Republic of Armenia on July 8, 1992, according to which 'any domestic  or international document is unacceptable for Armenia, in which  Nagorno-Karabakh is celebrated as part of Azerbaijan,'" the lawmakers  explained.

"For the authorities governing both in Artsakh and Armenia, the  priority should be declarations on the proclamation of two Armenian  republics, the values enshrined in the decision of September 2, 1991,  and the independence referendum of December 10, 1991. Not a single  official, not a single political force is authorized to independently  decide the future of our Homeland, for the formation of which  thousands of our sons gave their lives," added the statement.

"We are faced with the imperative of making historic decisions, and  no one can evade that responsibility for future generations," the  Artsakh lawmakers concluded.