Authorities take primitive stance on Nagorno Karabakh recognition – opposition MP

The Armenian authorities have adopted a very primitive stance on the recognition of Nagorno Karabakh, Larisa Alaverdyan of the opposition Heritage party faction in parliament told a news conference on Wednesday.

"The authorities have very plainly stated that they cannot recognize Karabakh unless Azerbaijan launches an aggression. I regret to say that this is a very poor manifestation of political thought. Why shouldn't we consider Artsakh a legitimate state?" she asked.

Alaverdyan also reminded journalists that the first draft law to recognize the Nagorno Karabakh Republic (NKR) was submitted to the parliament back in the 1990s by then-Foreign Minister Raffi Hovhannisyan, but the National Assembly rejected the bill, considering it untimely.

She added that the authorities have thereafter missed several chances to recognize Karabakh, the most proper occasion being the signing of the 1994 ceasefire agreement in Budapest. Another bill, she said, was submitted by the Heritage party leader in 2007 when the UN International Court had started the hearings over the Kosovo case, but that bill too didn't receive approval.

"They say Armenia isn't strong enough to recognize Nagorno Karabakh. But I don't understand what it should be strong at. Armenia emerged as an independent state in quite a legitimate manner, its only weakness being the country's foreign policy. Our presidents' statements on Artsakh never become a state policy. That means the style of the documents hasn't changed," she stated.