YEREVAN, JUNE 14, ARMENPRESS. The Foreign Ministry of Artsakh welcomes the announcments of the Mayors of Valence, Bourg-les-Valence, Bourg-de-Péage and Arnouville on their intention to maintain the friendly relations with the people of Artsakh despite the administrative courts’ verdicts, reads the statment issued by the Foreign Mnistry of Artsakh, reports ARMENPRESS.

''We welcome the statements by the Mayors of the French cities of Valence, Bourg-les-Valence, Bourg-de-Péage and Arnouville on their intention to maintain the friendly relations with the people of Artsakh, despite the administrative courts’ verdicts. We share the viewpoint that the cooperation between the Artsakh and French cities is based on the common values and conviction of equality and freedom, which prevail over short-term political or economic interests. We express our gratitude also to the France-Artsakh Friendship Circle for calling on the French Government to be impartial and not to give in to the pressure of Azerbaijan.

We are convinced that the support of the isolation policy conducted by the official Baku towards Artsakh in no way contributes to the peaceful settlement of the Azerbaijan-Karabakh conflict. Such actions not only cannot be presented as a neutral position, but on the contrary, are an obvious support of one of the parties to the conflict.

As we have repeatedly stated, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Artsakh will continue exerting every effort to create conditions aimed at integrating the administrative-territorial units of Artsakh into international processes. We are deeply convinced that international cooperation is an effective tool for the promotion of fundamental human rights and freedoms. Attempts to deprive the citizens of Artsakh of such an important advantage and opportunities for humanitarian contacts are inadmissible'', reads the statement.