The Armenian parliament has passed in the second reading draft amendments to the law "On international agreements".
The amendments allow for a legal relationship to be established with unrecognized entities, such as Nagorno-Karabakh, and for agreements to be signed with them.
The opposition Heritage Party, which objected to the amendments, did not take part in the vote.
Armenian Deputy Foreign Minister Shavarsh Kocharyan said earlier in parliament that the amendments were necessary following President Serzh Sargsyan’s speech at the OSCE summit in Astana. Without going into details as to which particular points of the Armenian leader’s speech necessitated the amendments, Kocharyan said only: “Points concerning Nagorno-Karabakh.”
Sargsyan said at the Astana summit that Armenia would have to recognized the independence of Karabakh, if Azerbaijan were to resume war over the territory.
Heritage faction members again severely criticized the amendments to the law "On international agreements", as they said the authorities were treating Karabakh as an illegal entity, rather than recognizing its independence.
Kocharyan replied angrily to today's criticism. He said that the concept of an “entity” as incorporated into the document had a collective meaning of a “republic, organization, state”. He stressed that the document would facilitate international recognition of Nagorno-Karabakh as it made Nagorno-Karabakh an international entity. “After the document has been adopted, Azerbaijan will not be able to claim that Nagorno-Karabakh is an entity subordinate to Armenia with which Armenia signs ‘inter-entity’ agreements,” Kocharyan said.
Referring to the OSCE Summit in Astana, Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan stated that Nagorno-Karabakh exercised its right to self-determination under USSR and international laws. “The president stressed that Armenia was a guarantor of Nagorno-Karabakh’s independence and security. That does not at all mean that the issue of recognition of Nagorno-Karabakh by Armenia has been removed from the agenda. But the best moment must be chosen so that Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh can fully benefit from it. We do not want to remain alone after recognizing Nagorno-Karabakh. Rather, we want Nagorno-Karabakh to be internationally recognized,” Kocharyan said in parliament.
Azerbaijani presidential official Ali Hasanov described as a "shameful act" the Armenian parliament's vote to pass amendments to the law On international agreements" in the first reading a week ago.
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