Armen Ashotyan: Armenia should insist that there can be no final settlement of Artsakh conflict without NKR people’s consent

Ani Mshetsyan. I would like to note once again that in case of the next aggression by Azerbaijan, Yerevan will recognize the independence of Artsakh, Deputy Chairman of the RPA, the head of the National Assembly Standing Committee on Foreign Relations Armen Ashotyan wrote on his Facebook page.

Ashotyan noted that Azerbaijan's plans for a blitzkrieg during the velvet revolution failed, as Serzh Sargsyan and Nikol Pashinyan managed to maintain internal stability, reducing the threat to the security of the two Armenian states to a minimum.

Ashotyan's message reads as follows: "On May 9, in Artsakh, Prime Minister Pashinyan announced the toughening of the position of the Armenian side in the negotiation process on the Nagorno-Karabakh settlement, noting the necessity of Artsakh's participation in the negotiations. There was also an obvious message from the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs, who stated in their statement that the negotiation process should continue in the current format. And there was a very subtle hint in the statement by the prime minister, following a meeting with Federica Mogherini, that the negotiation process must be reactivated without any preconditions, "Ashotyan wrote.

The MP also noted that after two months of diplomatic maneuvers, the negotiation process on the Artsakh settlement apparently has returned to the same point as prior to the change of power, therefore, the question arises how the Armenian side should behave in such a situation. "I think that the plan of our actions should be as follows: Armenia must constantly declare that without the consent of the people of Artsakh there can be no final decision, while in the course of negotiations both international recognition and the right of the Artsakh people to self-determination should be declared as priority. I think that there is a need to return to diplomatic pressure, in connection with the implementation of the St. Petersburg and Vienna agreements, since without them political settlement is out of question, "Ashotyan concluded.