Nagorno Karabakh senior MP calls for UNSC to provide international, indefinite mandate to Russian peacekeeping mission

STEPANAKERT, DECEMBER 13, ARMENPRESS. By continuing its decades-old Armenophobic policy Azerbaijan blocked with environmental pretexts the only road linking the Republic of Artsakh with the Republic of Armenia, committing a crime of global volumes and creating a humanitarian catastrophe in an attempt to cause panic among the population of Artsakh, the head of the Free Fatherland faction of the Artsakh Parliament Artur Harutyunyan told ARMENPRESS.

“By once again violating their obligations under the 9 November 2020 trilateral statement they are explicitly showing their aspirations to commit ethnic cleansing in Artsakh and achieve exodus of Armenians from Artsakh, which is a consequence of impunity. The only way for this not becoming reality is the recognition of Artsakh’s independence by the international community. But Azerbaijan is trying to obstruct this process at all cost, misrepresenting to the world that the issue is solved, that the Nagorno Karabakh conflict doesn’t exist. But this is false. This has been spoken about numerously by the Co-Chairing countries of the OSCE Minsk Group, high-level officials and other international actors: the conflict exists and it must be settled based on international norms and fundamental principles,” legislator Harutyunyan said.

He added that at the same time Azerbaijan is exploiting the geopolitical situation, regularly breaching the terms of the 9 November 2020 trilateral statement in an explicit attempt to discredit the Russian peacekeeping mission which is ensuring peace and stability in the region. The Artsakh lawmaker said that Azerbaijan is preparing grounds for withdrawing the peacekeepers from the region in the future and cancelling the trilateral statement, which will bring to unpredictable consequences.

In this context, the legislator is emphasizing the need for the UN Security Council to provide an international mandate with an indefinite term to the Russian peacekeeping mission as an international fundamental guarantee.

“On our difficult path for existential struggle we have overcome many challenges, and we continue and will continue to fight for our right to live freely in our homeland. For this, the high civil responsibility and selfless love towards our fatherland of each of us is extremely important. It is only through this way that we can keep Artsakh Armenian and reach our final goal based on the complete and uncompromising recognition of the results of exercising our right to self-determination,” Harutyunyan added.

Van Novikov