On May 21-22, Stepanakert was hosting the “Second Forum of Armenian political parties.” Aravot.am talked to the Chairman of the “Motherland” faction of the National Assembly of Nagorno-Karabakh, Arthur Tovmasyan. “I have said in my speech that there is no Armenian in the world who would not dream that one day Artsakh and Armenia will be united, but at this point, all of us: our compatriots in the Republic of Armenia and the Diaspora must respect the proclamation of December 2, 1991, and the results of the referendum on December 10, 1991, when 99.999 percent of the people said yes to the independence. At this point, Artsakh’s routine development is possible under the independent statehood. In my opinion, the Republic of Armenia must recognize the Republic of Nagorno-Karabakh during the large-scale military operations. This was in the case, for example, of South Ossetia and Abkhazia when Georgia launched a large-scale war over South Ossetia.
On the days of this war, the independence of this country was recognized by the Russian Federation and several other countries,” – he said. Arthur Tovmasyan considers the bill on recognition of Artsakh Republic should be introduced to the National Assembly not by the initiative of one-two parliamentarians but by all political parties. According to him, it is a major issue that Artsakh should participate in the negotiations, “The war was between Karabakh and Azerbaijan. Unfortunately, there are people in the Armenian reality who think that it was a war between Armenia and Azerbaijan, in other words, it was a Karabakh-Azerbaijani war, and we must participate in the negotiations as a party of war. Because every war is a conflict, but every conflict is not a war. A conflict as such exists between Armenia and Azerbaijan, but there is no large-scale war. And if the NKR authorities do not participate in the negotiation process, the fundamental document that should be signed will be signed without the participation of Artsakh, at best wishes, the document will remain on the table.”
Ami CHICHAKYAN
