Nagorno-Karabakh authorities criticize statement of European Council's President

The wording "Karabakh ethnic Armenian population", used by Charles Michel, President of the European Council, in Brussels, excludes the right of Nagorno-Karabakh residents to self-determination, which they have been seeking for thirty years, the president and the MPs of the unrecognized republic have stated.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on May 22, President of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliev, and Prime Minister of Armenia, Nikol Pashinyan, met in Brussels with Charles Michel, President of the European Council. At the meeting, the parties agreed to launch the work of the commission on border delimitation, and also agreed on the need to start unblocking the transport links in the region and discuss a future peace treaty.

The statement of Charles Michel "on ensuring the rights and security of the Karabakh ethnic Armenian population" is unacceptable for the people of Nagorno-Karabakh, Arayik Arutyunyan, the president of the unrecognized republic, said at an expanded sitting of the Security Council on May 25. "Such a wording fails to represent the demands and aspirations of the Armenians of Artsakh (the self-name of Nagorno-Karabakh), which have been clearly presented to the international community over the past thirty years, and which is based on nations' right to self-determination," the press service has quoted Mr Arutyunyan as saying.

"Charles Michel's statement on the outcomes of the recent trilateral meeting in Brussels is a reason for bewilderment from the point of view of distorting the essence of the settlement of the Karabakh problem and the legacy accumulated over 30 years of the negotiation process. For the first time in the negotiation discourse, an attempt is being made to abandon the political and geographical concept of Nagorno-Karabakh, and the phrase 'ethnic Armenian population of Karabakh' is being introduced into circulation," the Nagorno-Karabakh MPs stated in their May 24 statement.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on May 26, 2022 at 04:20 am MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.