Artsakh President, FM and Speaker of NA welcome recognition of independence of Donetsk and Luhansk People's Republics

On February 22, President of the Republic of Artsakh Arayik Harutyunyan sent a message on the occasion of the recognition of the independence of the Donetsk and Luhansk People's Republics.

"I welcome the decision of President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin to recognize the independence of the Donetsk and Luhansk People's Republics.

The right of nations to self-determination and building one's own state is inalienable for every people and is a fundamental principle of the international law.

The Republic of Artsakh has been fighting for its freedom, security and state-building for decades, and has been exposed to many trials and genocidal actions. Thus, we hope that the Republic of Artsakh, which has relevant indisputable historical, political, legal and moral bases, has earned the international recognition of its sovereign state," the message reads.

The Nagorno-Karabakh Republic, the Republic of Artsakh, lauds the recognition of the independence of the "Donetsk People's Republic" and the "Luhansk People's Republic" by the President of the Russian Federation, Vladimir Putin. Artsakh Foreign Minister David Babayan told this to Armenian News-NEWS.am.

"We [i.e., Artsakh] believe that the process of self-determination of peoples, creation of new states is inevitable, especially in the conditions of the existence of existential threats of this or that people. The Artsakh Republic is a country that has been fighting for its secure future for more than a hundred years already. We understand the importance of achieving independence and the legal and geopolitical wording of its path. There is no opposite way for the peoples who have stood on the path to achieve independence and built democratic states, passing the former ‘metropolises’ on many issues, and they definitely must be recognized.

The Artsakh Republic also has all the grounds for the recognition of its independent statehood. These are historical, legal, ethical, and ethical-academic bases.

Moreover, we have proved in practice that we have built a democratic state which is much ahead of Azerbaijan in its democratic development. Therefore, we believe that we should also be recognized by the international community," Babayan said.

The Speaker of the National Assembly of the Republic of Artsakh Artur Tovmasyan welcomes the decision of Russian President Vladimir Putin to recognize the independence of the Donetsk and Luhansk People's Republics.

"We believe that such recognition will become the basis for ensuring guarantees of protection and security of residents of the DPR and LPR from external threats and strengthening international peace and regional stability.

We Congratulate the people of Donbas on the political and legal recognition of the self-determination of the two republics," the congratulatory message reads.

The exercise of the right of the people of Artsakh to self-determination is inevitable, Member of Parliament of Armenia from the opposition "I Have Honor" faction Hayk Mamijanyan said at the joint meeting of the committees of the Euronest Parliamentary Assembly in Yerevan.

"Creativity is always welcome. Azerbaijan has its brand of creativity, Azerbaijan’s brand of solving the problem is to ignore its existence. According to Azerbaijan, there is no Nagorno Karabakh conflict, there are no prisoners of war, no banned weapons were used during the war, there is no elimination of cultural heritage and it doesn’t continue, there haven’t been terrorists in Artsakh, there haven’t been armed forces and there are no such forces in the sovereign territory of Armenia. This is a very interesting brand of solving the problem – to ignore the problems," he said.

The Nagorno Karabakh conflict is not over, as much as Azerbaijani lawmakers are trying to convince themselves and others the opposite. Armenian MP

Armenia hosted a session of the Euronest Parliamentary Assembly attended by members of the Eastern Partnership countries Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia and Ukraine.

The Nagorno Karabakh conflict is not over, as much as Azerbaijani lawmakers are trying to convince themselves and others the opposite, Armenian MP Arman Yeghoyan said during the Euronest Parliamentary Assembly meeting in Yerevan in response to the Azerbaijani delegate’s speech claiming that the Nagorno Karabakh conflict is over.

"I can’t recall how many times the Azerbaijani colleagues repeated trying to convince themselves that the conflict is over. The conflict can’t be over simply by saying its over. The conflict can be over when the reasons of the conflict are eliminated. The reasons which led to the Nagorno Karabakh conflict aren’t over. I’d say they even got more acute because in Azerbaijan the hatred towards Armenians, Armenian culture and everything relating to Armenians is getting deeper and deeper," Yeghoyan said.

As proof, Yeghoyan cited the Azerbaijani government’s efforts to erase Armenian records from churches and falsely present them as Albanian monuments.

Is there an issue on the agenda, a resolution or any decision on the Armenian detainees within the framework of the 'Euronest' PA? In a briefing with journalists, head of the Armenian Parliament’s delegation to the Euronest Parliamentary Assembly Maria Karapetyan said in response to this question that the deputies had raised that issue.

"The 'Euronest' Parliamentary Assembly doesn’t suppose such a format, but, of course, the lawmakers raised that issue during the debate on the topic of the security in the South Caucasus. In general, the sessions of these committees conduct a preliminary debate of drafts similar to our parliament. The resolutions of the political, energy, security and social committees are still in the form of drafts, they are currently being debated, but I would like to note that they do not have a context of conflict," she said.

The issue of "Security in the South Caucasus" was included in the agenda of the sitting of the 'Euronest' political commission. The head of Armenian Parliament’s delegation to the 'Euronest' Parliamentary Assembly Maria Karapetyan stated this at a briefing with journalists.

"The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict was also discussed this morning. Experts joined us online. The Armenian expert was in the room, an expert from Azerbaijan joined online, after which the Armenian deputies, almost the entire delegation, and the Azerbaijani deputies exchanged views.

Our European partners also expressed their positions. I consider the position of Mrs. Marina Kaljurand very important here. She is the representative of the European Parliament in the South Caucasus. Today she reaffirmed that war is not a means of resolving the conflict, and that the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict has yet to receive its full, comprehensive, negotiated, peaceful solution," Karapetyan said.

The European Union should give an unequivocal and targeted assessment to Azerbaijan and Turkey, Member of Parliament of Armenia from the opposition "Armenia" faction Anna Grigoryan said in her remarks at the joint meeting of the Euronest Parliamentary Assembly’s Committees in Yerevan.

"The security challenges continue to be maintained in our region, whereas Azerbaijan thinks that the conflict could be solved by war. About 2 years ago Azerbaijan decided that it can solve the Nagorno Karabakh conflict with the use of force, which itself is a violation of the fundamental principles guaranteed by the UN and the Helsinki Final Act. The war led to disasters, but didn’t solve the conflict, the conflict still exists. Hostility, the spread of Armenophobia and the conflict distorted the prospect of peace agreement in the region," she said.

She addressed a question on how one can go to a political dialogue with Azerbaijan when the Armenian prisoners of war and captured civilians are still held in Azerbaijan, by facing an inhuman treatment daily, when Azerbaijan committed violence, bloodshed and destructs the Armenian cultural heritage in Nagorno-Karabakh.

"How can we talk about security when the threat of using force, the propaganda of cynicism, militaristic rhetoric and xenophobia continue from Azerbaijan every day? Moreover, right now the Azerbaijani armed forces continue their occupation in Armenia’s sovereign territory, in Syunik. Due to this policy of Azerbaijan, it becomes difficult to think about a security environment in our region," the Armenian lawmaker said.

Putin and Aliyev sign a declaration on allied cooperation

The President of Azerbaijan arrived in Russia on February 21 on an official visit. The Kremlin said that the leaders of the two countries plan to sign a declaration on allied cooperation, discuss issues of economic and political cooperation and the implementation of agreements on Nagorno-Karabakh between Yerevan, Baku and Moscow.

Russian President Vladimir Putin at a meeting with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said that unblocking transport communications in the South Caucasus is beneficial to all countries of the region.

"Despite all the problems that we still have, I think that we can be satisfied with the level we have reached. We will discuss this in detail today. But in any case, there are certain agreements, not only in connection with ensuring the safety of local residents, but also those related to the development of trade and economic ties and enabling transport communication," Putin said.

According to him, unblocking transport communications comes from the interests of all countries in the region.

"I know that there are still some disputes, things to work on. But we are going to do everything in our power to ensure that the process moves forward using peaceful means and to attain satisfaction for all parties involved. By the way, I know that both the Russian Federation and your other neighbors are interested in dealing with these issues, including those regarding transport. Not only Azerbaijan and Armenia are interested in this, Russia and your other neighbors are interested as well," Putin said.

The negotiations of Putin and Aliyev lasted for about 4 hours.

They discussed the situation around Nagorno-Karabakh and Ukraine. After the talks, the Presidents of the two countries signed a declaration on allied cooperation. 

The declaration was published on the official website of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Azerbaijan.

According to the first point of the declaration, Russia and Azerbaijan build their relations on the inviolability of borders, mutual respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity.

According to one of the points, Russia and Azerbaijan can discuss the possibility of providing military assistance to each other.

"Russia and Azerbaijan will continue to assist efforts to implement the provisions of the statements from November 9/10, 2020, January 11, 2021 and November 26, 2021, which served as the basis for strengthening stability and security in the region, unblocking all economic and transport ties."

At a joint press conference with the President of Russia Vladimir Putin, Ilham Aliyev said that he expects from the Armenian side the withdrawal of troops from the territory of Karabakh, as well as the opening of communications between the main territory of Azerbaijan and Nakhichevan.

"We expect the Armenian side to fully implement all the points of the agreement signed on November 9, 2020, which relate to the withdrawal of Armenian troops from the territory of Karabakh, as well as the opening of all communications between the main territory of Azerbaijan and Nakhichevan, which is one of the legal obligations of the Armenian side," Ilham Aliyev said.

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