ARF-D conducts Armenia-Artsakh Strategic Alliance forum in Stepanakert

The Armenian Revolutionary Federation-Dashnaksution (ARF-D) on Tuesday opened the Armenia-Artsakh Strategic Alliance forum in Stepanakert to foster discussions between the two Armenian republics over enhanced cooperation in the legal-contractual domain.

The event brought together scores of participants representing the political, military, professional and public circles of Armenia, Artsakh and the Armenian Diaspora.

The forum is expected to mark a new chapter in the Armenia-Artsakh relations, offering the two countries a historic opportunity to sign a deal on developing comprehensive cooperation. The participants will also adopt a declaration and elect an organizaing commitee to initiate a petition in support of the Armenia-Artsakh Strategic Alliance.

The initiative aims to give a new impetus to human rights protection in Artsakh, as well as contribute to the country's itnernational recognition.

Several participants delivered speeches at today's meeting to share their vision of the pan-Armenian agenda. Hrant Margaryan of the ARF-D Bureau said a ''universal premonition of danger'' pushed them to the idea to hold the joint meeting to address the existing concerns. ''All we have been doing in the past 10 years or so was just elbowing our way to survival; now, we are free to head towards development,'' he said, ruling out the possibility of concessions.

''It is important to negotiate, yet at the same time, also to have the understanding that Azerbaijan will never accept any concession. Even if they do, this conflict is, understandably, everlasting. Hence, we have to be prepared for that,'' he added. 

Appreciating the initiative, Margaryan recommended conducting similar events on a regular basis to consolidate the people and the political forices around the proposed idea.

In his speech, Chairman of the ARF-D Bureau Armen Rustamyan also highlighted the urgent importance of laying out frameworks of a legal-contractual cooperation. He said that the objective '' is in line with the fundamental principles of international law and stems from the challenges and problems linked to the settlement of the Artsakh conflict''.

Meantime, he emphasized that the signing of the deal "should never serve as grounds for blaming either Armenia or Artsakh" of torpedoing the entire peace process.

''What we need to rely on as a guideline is the possible resumption of a war at any moment. With one of the sides being permanently amid war preparations, it isn't virtually possible to have the other side preparing only for peace. Hence the Armenian sides are obliged to openly – rather than in a disguised manner - reinforce their security and defense, guiding their comprehensive actions through legal-contractual regulations,'' he added.

Rustamyan also emphasized the need of complementrary processes (running parallel with the negotiations) to ''enrich the Armenian sides' diplomatic arsenal'' and step up the international recognition process through nationwide efforts. "It is important to achieve Artsakh's engagement in integration and security-related processes, pushing the mediators and international role-players to ruling out the isolation of residents in the conflict zone and disrespect for rights,'' he said.