Comment by Head of the Information and Public Relations Department of the Foreign Ministry of the Republic of Artsakh Artak Nersisyan to News.am Agency
Question: The upcoming election of the President of the Republic of Artsakh scheduled for July 19 has caused yet another stormy reaction in Azerbaijan. In particular, the Spokesperson for the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry called the upcoming elections an attempt to undermine the efforts of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs. How would you comment on this?
Answer: As we have stated repeatedly, free, fair, transparent and competitive elections, as an integral part of political processes in the Republic of Artsakh (NagornoKarabakh Republic), are aimed at organizing the public life in the Republic and forming government through democratic procedure. They can in no way have a negative impact on the efforts of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs for a peaceful settlement of the Azerbaijani-Karabakh conflict. This position was confirmed in one form or another by the Minsk Group Co-Chairs in their numerous statements.
Moreover, the mediators also noted the role of the people of NagornoKarabakh in determining their future within the framework of the settlement of the Azerbaijani-Karabakh conflict. We believe that elections are one of the forms of expressing the will of the people, and therefore their conduct is fully consistent with the logic of a peaceful settlement of the conflict.
Azerbaijan’s negative reaction to the political processes in Artsakh is caused not by concern for the efforts of the Minsk Group Co-Chairs, which Baku itself undermines in every possible way, but the desire to exclude the very existence of Artsakh.
It is obvious that the irreversibility of strengthening the statehood of Artsakh and its institutions causes a nervous reaction from Baku. Moreover, Azerbaijan’s rejection of the objective reality is one of the main obstacles in the process of the settlement of the Azerbaijani-Karabakh conflict.