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YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 29, ARMENPRESS. Parliament Speaker of Armenia Ara Babloyan on September 29 held a meeting with the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly’s Special Representative on the South Caucasus Kristian Vigenin, press service of the Parliament told Armenpress.
Speaker Babloyan welcomed Vigenin’s visit to Armenia since it is being held within the frames of the visit to the countries of South Caucasus. He expressed confidence that the visits of the OSCE representatives to the region will enable to get acquainted with the regional affairs. Ara Babloyan said Armenia supports the OSCE stance and calls on all its partners to act in accordance with the OSCE principles and international norms. He expressed regret over the closure of the OSCE Office in Yerevan and expressed hope the organization will find new ways of close communication and partnership.
Coming to the Nagorno Karabakh conflict settlement, Speaker Babloyan reaffirmed Armenia’s stance and stated: “For us the humanity is the greatest value: everything is created around it. The protection of human rights is also important. As a doctor who fought for saving the human lives, I am equally sorry for the Armenian and Azerbaijani young people who are being killed”.
He attached importance to the person’s right to live safe and peacefully, adding that the two peoples would like to establish peace and have no losses in the line of contact. According to the Parliament Speaker, the Nagorno Karabakh conflict should be viewed not from territorial, but from human rights perspective by respecting Artsakh people’s right to self-determination and live freely.
Commenting on the reforms being carried out in Armenia for years, Ara Babloyan said Armenia is a bearer of European values and is ready to negotiate and hold a dialogue over the issues faced by the region.
He added that Armenia is ready to continue the cooperation with the OSCE and re-open the Yerevan Office.
In his turn Kristian Vigenin thanked for the reception and also expressed regret over the closure of the OSCE offices in the region. Mr. Vigenin highly appreciated the Armenian parliamentary delegation’s activity in the OSCE PA.
Kristian Vigenin said the goal of his mission is to contribute to establishing dialogue between the countries of the region, establishing and maintaining peace. He highlighted the role of parliamentary diplomacy on settling the conflicts.
According to Mr. Vigening the conflicts must be solved peacefully since not only countries, but also ordinary citizens pay high price for them.
As for the ongoing reforms in Armenia, he said one of his goals must be to make Armenia recognizable not only by the NK conflict, but also as a country which has a democratic progress and carried out constitutional reforms.
At the end of the meeting Kristian Vigenin expressed hope that within the course of the time it will be possible to restore the OSCE presence in Armenia and said: “It would be better to have a situation in which the OSCE presence in the region would not be necessary”.