MEETING OF THE ARTSAKH AND FRENCH DEPUTIES
August 25, 2011
On August 22, the NKR NA Deputies met with the French NA Deputies who
had arrived in Stepanakert on an acquainting visit on the invitation
of the NKR NA. The meeting took place in the NKR NA meeting hall. The
NA staff and representatives of the NKR MFA also attended the meeting.
Opening the meeting, NKR NA Chairman Ashot Ghulian, on behalf of the
Republic’s authorities and the attendants, warmly greeted the guests –
Deputies of the French NA, members of the France-Armenia Friendship
Group, Chairman of the National Security and Armed Forces Committee
Gee Tessier, member of the Social Issues Committee, Vice-Mayor of
Marseilles Valery Buayer, Secretary of the Foreign Relations Committee,
Mayor of Vienne Jack Remilier, and Secretary of the Social Issues
Committee George Colombier. “The Artsakh Armenians, who are building
their independent statehood, are glad to receive friendly France’s
NA Deputies on their native land”, said the NA Chairman, expressing
his gratitude to the guests for their visit. He also expressed his
gratitude to the visit’s initiators and organizers – the persons
accompanying the French Deputies and especially NKR Representative
to France Hovhannes Gevorgian. “We appreciate the mediation mission
of France as a co-chair of the OSCE Minsk Group in the Karabakh
settlement process. We are sure that France, representing the herald
of the ancient world independence, respects the aspiration of the
Artsakh people for building its independent state”, the Speaker noted.
The Parliament Speaker also expressed his conviction that the French
Deputies’ visit to Artsakh proceeds from the traditions of the
Armenian-French centuries-old friendship and is another manifestation
of this friendship. As such, it is another link in the continuous
chain of our inter-parliamentary contacts, Mr. Ghulian noted.
According to the NA Chairman, the Artsakh parliamentarians had the
honor to receive twice their French counterparts for the recent years.
In particular, in 2009-2010, they were the delegations led by Chairman
of the French NA France-Armenia Friendship Group Fransua Roshbluan
and comprising Deputies Rishar Malier, Arlet Grogkost, Ryke Ruche,
Michel Difenbaker, and Pascal Kroso.
“The working visit of the NKR delegation to France in October 2009
was important for us and, I believe, for our French friends”, noted
the NKR NA Chairman. “Our delegation, which I had the honor to lead,
met with Chairman of the French Senate France-Armenia Friendship Group
Serge Lagosh and some members of the NA France-Armenia Friendship
Group to discuss important regional issues related, in particular, to
the Karabakh settlement process, the role of France in this process,
and the developments in the Caucasus region”, he said. The NA Chairman
expressed hope for further meetings with the current French Deputies
and their counterparts in Artsakh and the hospitable land of France.
Especially that this year is a jubilee both for the
NagornoKarabakhRepublic and the France-Armenia interstate relations.
“20 years have passed since the freedom-loving French people, who
also respects any aspiration for freedom, established full-fledged
state relations with Armenia, and their mutual understanding allows
to hope for more achievements”, said the Parliament Speaker.
Leader of the French delegation Gee Tessier also made a speech.
Noting that their current visit was based, in particular, on the
commitments assumed within the France-Armenia Friendship Group,
the French Deputy said, “I often think why the people of the Nagorno
Karabakh Republic, about a century after a forcible resolution, again
have to face difficulties from generation to generation in living
on their native land and why the world’s conflicts have a positive
resolution in one case and are merely ignored in another case. Why
shouldn’t we speak of the fact that Armenians have the full right to
live in this region, especially that their roots are historically much
deeper on this land?” Noting that, thanks to the meetings, they gained
certain distinctness on the essence of the Karabakh conflict and its
settlement process, he expressed his confidence of the importance of
Nagorno Karabakh’s equal participation in the settlement process. As a
result of our yesterday’s and today’s talks, we understood that your
peaceful future must be established only via your participation and
your will, he noted. “We see how you remove the consequences of the
war and reconstruct your country and it isn’t difficult to imagine
your ability to establish tomorrow’s final and stable peace, as you
have the corresponding will”, emphasized the French Deputy. According
to him, there is no alternative to the peaceful development of Armenia
and Nagorno Karabakh in the South Caucasus region. “As of us, French
Deputies, on our return to France in a few days, we’ll inform the
corresponding state structures of our country and all those who are
interested in establishing peace in this region that the Karabakh
people have great aspiration for establishing peace and living in
peaceful conditions”, he said.
The meeting of the Artsakh and French Deputies was completed with Mr.
Ghulian’s conclusive speech. In his speech, the NA Chairman appreciated
the assessments and wishes their French counterparts expressed from
the Parliament’s tribune and in their immediate talks.
Noting that, thanks to the recent years’ contacts, the Artsakh
Parliament had gained over ten friends at the National Assembly of
France, the NKR NA Chairman, on behalf of the Artsakh parliamentarians,
expressed readiness to continue that friendship, to share opinions and
positions with their French friends and to have corresponding debates
on the Karabakh and other regional issues. “I think that in the 21st
century, we have our part in continuing and developing the
Armenian-French friendship. Tomorrow morning,
after your departure, I think we’ll feel the same satisfaction in our
meetings, which, I hope, were useful for our further cooperation”,
the NA Chairman noted.
NKR NA Press Service
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