Nelly Baghdasaryan, Advisor on International Relations of the President of the Artsakh Republic had a number of meetings in Europe.

October 28, 2022, 12:04

There is a high level of interest towards Artsakh. The adviser to the President of the Republic of Artsakh summed up the results of the meetings held in Europe

STEPANAKERT, OCTOBER 28, ARTSAKHPRESS:  Nelly Baghdasaryan presented details about the working visit to European countries and the results of the meetings in an interview with "Artsakhpress".

- Mrs. Baghdasaryan, thank you for accepting the offer to share with us the details of your recent visit to Europe, what have you recorded, what are our further activities?

 - In the framework of the European visit, I met with a group of French-Armenian journalist-analysts in Paris.

 In particular, I presented the current military-political and social situation in the Republic of Artsakh. It must be said that in general, conditioned by the realities after the 2020 Azerbaijani-Karabakh war and the Ukrainian crisis, the number of publications about Artsakh in foreign language media has decreased to a certain extent, so we discussed the issues and what to do in order to intensify the work in the direction of French-language publications about Artsakh.

I should also mention that a lot of work has been done in the French analytical field recently. In particular, "Centre Français de Recherche sur le Renseignement (CF2R)" published "Nagorno Karabakh. "Black Book" collective work; the editor-authors are Éric Denécé and Tigran Yegavian. Within the framework of the European visit, I met with Ita Grgpeshyan, the representative of the "Support to Artsakh" Union Office in Paris.

I have got acquainted with the development programs to be implemented by the union in Artsakh.

The European Armenian Federation for Justice and Democracy plays a major role in keeping the subject of Artsakh on the agenda. In particular, I met with the head of the office Kaspar Karapetyan and the office staff.

I had a detailed discussion on the foreign political agenda and priorities of the Republic of Artsakh, I referred to the role of the Russian peacekeeping mission. I discussed the regional developments and threats to the Republic of Armenia and the Republic of Artakh . Kaspar Karapetyan, for his part, presented the work presented by them with the European institutions and the Armenian community.

On September 27, at the initiative of the the European Armenian Federation for Justice and Democracy and with the participation of the head of the office, Kaspar Karapetyan, a meeting-discussion was organized with members of the Artsakh-Belgium French-speaking Friendship group: André du Bus/coordinator of the group/, former senator Julie de Groote, former President of the Brussels French speaking Parliament , and Emmanuel De Bock, member of the French-speaking Parliament, with the president of the DéFI faction. During the discussion, I presented the current situation in Artsakh, the role of the Russian peacekeeping institute; I presented the actions carried out by Azerbaijan in 2020, as well as the frequency of ceasefire and human rights violations after the ceasefire agreement.

I have emphasized that any other format proposed by the international community beyond the framework of the realization of the principle of the right to self-determination of nations will lead Artsakh to an ontological disaster. In the end, I thanked the Artsakh-Belgium French-speaking friendship circle for the financial support provided for the reconstruction of the Khramort village school.

How interested are the European structures in the development of our region?

-During the meeting with Anna Aghajanyan, Head of the Representation of the Republic of Armenia to the European Union, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to the Kingdom of Belgium, we discussed exactly this range of issues. In particular, I presented the foreign political agenda of the Artsakh Republic; I presented our expectations from the international community, the problems caused by international isolation. I emphasized the position of the Republic of Artsakh regarding the necessity of restarting the co-chairmanship of the OSCE Minsk Group.

Within the framework of the discussed issues, I have also touched on the social problems of  the Artsakh Republic. The ambassador, in her  turn, made important observations and remarks about the discussed issues.

At the same time, at the invitation of the embassy, I participated in the reception held at the initiative of the Armenian diplomatic missions in Brussels on the occasion of the 31st anniversary of the independence of the Republic of Armenia, which was attended by a number of high-ranking officials and partners of the Kingdom of Belgium, the EU and NATO.

During the reception, I had private conversations with François Alphonsi, Peter Van Dalen, Jordi Sole, Charlie Weimers, Lars Patrick Berg, members of the European Parliament's Foreign Relations Committee.

I thanked the deputies for their objective position regarding the adoption of the "Resolution on the Return of Prisoners of War of the Last Nagorno-Karabakh War" and the "Resolution on the Destruction of Cultural Heritage in Nagorno-Karabakh". I drew their attention to the existence of double standards of international law regarding the conflict and the humanitarian consequences of the conflict.

I presented Artsakh’s position to the statements coming from Brussels, emphasizing that the actors involved in the settlement process should adhere to the logic of the international documents on the settlement. I emphasized the necessity of restarting the co-chairmanship of the OSCE Minsk Group.

I have emphasized that the international community should show preventive actions in the case of Azerbaijan, and post facto reactions cannot have the expected result. The MPs expressed their regret regarding the restrictions on entering Artsakh. The MPs, in their turn, made important observations regarding the discussed issues.

- How does the Armenian community relate to the Pan-Armenian agenda issues?

 - I must emphasize that there are great concerns among the Armenian community regarding the current situation both in the Republic of Armenia and Artsakh. At the invitation of "Armenian House" in Brussels, I participated in a meeting-discussion with the leadership of the structures of the Armenian community in Belgium. The discussion took place in two stages. In the first stage, I presented the foreign political agenda of the Republic of Artsakh, the military-political developments, the role of the Russian peacekeeping force. In the second stage, on the recommendation of community representatives, I presented a number of development projects formulated by the Government of Artsakh, which need financing support. One project has received funding support from  the"Armenian House" in Brussels.

The representatives of the Armenian community raised many questions related to the military-political and social spheres of the Republic of Artsakh, and an active discussion took place.