European Parliament Adopts Resolution Recognizing Artsakh People’s Right to Self-Determination

BRUSSELS — In a Resolution adopted on November 15 and ahead of the Eastern Partnership Summit to be held in Brussels on November 24, the European Parliament has adopted a resolution, with an overwhelming majority of votes,recognizing the right of the people of Nagorno- Karabakh to self-determination

A similar resolution was adopted in connection with the 72nd session of the UN General Assembly on July 5, 2017, when through the efforts of the permanent representation of Armenia in Brussels the European Parliament for the first time recorded the right of the people of Nagorno-Karabakh to self-determination.

The European Parliament recommended the Council, the Commission and the European External Action Service to call for an immediate end to military hostilities between Armenian and Azerbaijani forces, which unnecessarily claim the lives of civilians and soldiers whilst hampering socioeconomic development.

The European Parliament has also reaffirmed support for the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs’ efforts to solve the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and to their 2009 Basic Principles, which include territorial integrity, self-determination and the non-use of force.

“The European Parliament recommends to call on Armenia and Azerbaijan to re-launch negotiations in good faith with a view to implementing these principles to solve the conflict, which cannot be solved using military force, to call on the Governments of Armenia and Azerbaijan to hold high-level talks and commit to genuine confidence-building measures and dialogue between Armenian and Azerbaijani civil society; to make the ratification of new agreements between the EU and each of the parties conditional on meaningful commitments to and substantial progress towards solving the conflict, such as maintaining the ceasefire and supporting the implementation of the 2009 Basic Principles.

The European Parliament stresses that Armenia serves as an example of how membership of the Eurasian Economic Union and participation in the EU’s neighborhood strategies can coexist”. The text of the resolution concludes.

According to media reports, a large-scale attempt of falsifications, undertaken by Azerbaijan, aimed at neutralizing the efforts of the international community towards the peaceful settlement of the Karabakh conflict, as well as damaging the Armenia-EU relations on the eve of the Eastern Partnership summit in Brussels, has failed.

The Azerbaijani side had made every effort to change the main message and the logic of the resolution. In particular, it tried including 20 amendments added to the draft resolution aimed against the peaceful settlement of the Karabakh conflict, in particular, portraying Nagorno-Karabakh as part of Azerbaijan and demanding the return of refugees to the territory.