Artsakh proved its capacity of organizing country’s public-political life – Armenia MFA spox

YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 2, ARMENPRESS. Spokesperson of Armenia’s foreign ministry Anna Naghdalyan started her today’s press briefing with congratulations on the occasion of the Independence Day of Artsakh.

Naghdalyan said during these years Artsakh has proved its capacity of organizing the country’s public-political life, ensuring the security of its people, as well as assuming international commitments, in particular towards the promotion of democracy and human rights.

“The people of Artsakh have authorized their democratically elected authorities with a respective mandate to present their interests at the international field and first of all in the peace process. They also authorized to guarantee the comprehensiveness of the security system of Artsakh, ensure respective domestic and external conditions for the country’s normal development and prosperity”, she said, adding that Armenia has a very close partnership with Artsakh at various domains. “We are ready to take constant steps to further develop that cooperation”.

September 2, 2020, marks the 29th anniversary of the declaration of independence of Artsakh, formerly known as the Nagorno Karabakh Republic.

On this day in 1991, a joint sitting of lawmakers from the Nagorno Karabakh provincial council and the Shahumyan regional council proclaimed the Nagorno Karabakh Republic (NKR) within the borders of the former NKAO and Shahumyan region. The move was in line with the then-active legislation, particularly the April 3, 1990 law which entitled national autonomies to determine their status on their own.

On December 10, 1991, a few days before the official collapse of the Soviet Union, Nagorno Karabakh held a referendum, where the overwhelming majority, 99,89%, of the population voted in favor of complete independence from Azerbaijan.

Editing and Translating by Aneta Harutyunyan