Epress.am News from Armenia
The ridiculous question “Why don’t the people from Artsakh [the unrecognized Republic of Nagorno-Karabakh] go back to Artsakh?” wouldn’t be heard today if there was no proclamation of the liberation of Artsakh and no victory in the 90s of the national liberation struggle, said NKR Supreme Council foreign relations committee expert, MP Larisa Alaverdyan, celebrating Nagorno-Karabakh “Liberation Day” at a press conference in Yerevan on Friday.
“I truly congratulate progressive Armenians. If it wasn’t for that proclamation and if we didn’t win in the national liberation struggle, picture the situation of the Republic of Armenia for a moment. Everyone must understand that we fought for a united Armenia,” she said.
Alaverdyan considered unacceptable Armenia’s position on Nagorno-Karbakh in the international arena, saying that Armenia presents the conflict as being distorted.
The opposition MP criticized the Madrid Principles, which have become the basis of negotiations between the presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan, and she asked journalists to call them “unprincipled Yerevan” on her behalf.
“First, because self-determination is not the primary issue for Artsakh; on the contrary, it hasn’t allowed for Azerbaijan to trample on the right to self-determination already acquired by Artsakh Armenians. When we speak of the right to self-determination, we understand that what Artsakh wants is self-determination in the present territory of Azerbaijan,” she said.
The NKR Supreme Council foreign relations committee expert declared that it is written in a document being discussed with representatives of Artsakh’s National Assembly in the framework of an Armenia-Artsakh inter-parliamentary cooperation committee that Artsakh was forced to take control of a buffer zone from seven regions around Nagorno-Karabakh.
“This is unacceptable and unawful. Those lands belong to Artsakh. In fact, there are still areas that also belong to Artsakh, but they are under occupation,” she said.