RPA member: We hope that OSCE MG will take steps to carry out the joint statement of Armenian and Nagorno-Karabakh Parliaments

 At the current stage of the Karabakh peace process the priority is to involve Stepanakert in the peace process. It is for this reason that the Parliaments of Armenia and Artsakh have addressed a joint statement to the OSCE Minsk Group, Karine Achemyan, MP from the Republican Party of Armenia, member of the Interparliamentary Committee of the National Assembly of the Republic of Armenia and the National Assembly of the Nagorno Karabakh Republic, told ArmInfo.       

In the meantime, the MP thinks that undoubtedly Azerbaijan will "hysterically" respond to that statement.  Nevertheless, it does not mean that Armenia should not raise this issue, she said. "Everyone should realize that it is impossible to resolve the Karabakh problem without involving Stepanakert in the negotiations", she said. For his part, Hamlet Harutyunyan, another member of the Interparliamentary Committee, member of the Republican Party of Armenia, expressed hope that the OSCE Minsk Group will positively assess the statement of the two Armenian republics and will take relevant measures to carry out the statement. 
To recall, the Interparliamentary Committee of the National Assembly of the Republic of Armenia and the National Assembly of the Nagorno Karabakh Republic made a joint statement on 26 June.  The Committee urged the Minsk Group Co-Chairs to take all necessary steps to ensure the full-fledged participation of the Nagorno Karabakh Republic in all the stages of the negotiating process.

The statement runs as follows: "Highlighting the full and flawless compliance of the declaration and the process of formation of the Nagorno Karabakh Republic with the fundamental principles and norms of the international law and the USSR legislation, which was yet in force at that time, as well as the reality that the Republic of Armenia is the guarantor of the realization of the right to self-determination of the Karabakh people.

We apply to the Minsk Group Co-Chairs to take necessary steps to ensure the full-fledged participation of the Nagorno Karabakh Republic in all the stages of the negotiating process."

The Committee calls on the OSCE MG co-chair states to take effective steps for withdrawal of snipers, creation of the machinery for investigation of incidents and ruling out statements and actions that embark hatred.