What is the future of the bill recognizing Karabakh?

The Republican Party of Armenia (RPA) will by December 9 come up with a decision and state its position over Karabakh's recognition after it will have held discussions with the Heritage party over the bill prepared by the Heritage and proposing to recognize Karabakh, MP Artak Davtyan of the RPA told a press conference today.

Given the OSCE Summit in Astana and upon the request of the ruling majority in parliament, the Heritage party had postponed the vote on the bill. It had, however, said that the bill would be brought to vote after the Astana summit.

The next parliamentary session is due on December 6, and the bill proposed by the Heritage party is expected to be voted on at the last day of the session – December 9.

Heritage party spokesman Hovsep Khurshudyan, said, in turn, that on the day of the voting, all the MPs should vote in favor of the bill.

"I think that December 9 is the very day when the 131 MPs should vote together as the Astana Summit changed nothing," said he.

In response, Artak Davtyan said no dates should be mentioned when it comes to recognizing Karabakh.

"Let's mention December 9, but let's not say 2010," said he.

Further, the two agreed that both the opposition and the ruling authorities share a common view over the recognition of Karabakh.
The only disagreement here is when it should be recognized.

Artak Davtyan also said that Armenia's President Serzh Sargsyan made it clear at the OSCE Summit in Astana that should Azerbaijan launch military actions, Armenia will have no choice but to recognize Karabakh de jure.

At the same time, he said that Armenia has already made a big compromise in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict settlement, by taking part in the peace talks instead of Karabakh.

"The moment will, however, come when NK itself will take part [in the talks], and we will not be able to directly make decisions for NK," said he, adding that as an established state, Nagorno Karabakh may one day demand Armenia not to intervene in its affairs.

"This should not be ruled out either," said Artak Davtyan.