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Artashes Geghamyan, head of the Armenian delegation to the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly (OSCE PA), chairman of the National Unity Party, spoke about the basic mechanisms of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict settlement in his speech at the OSCE PA session dedicated to the 40th anniversary of the Helsinki Final Act on July 6. Mr Geghamyan noted that the principle of territorial integrity must not be the only principle to be guided by.

“Dear colleagues, in order to maintain and develop the achievements of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly of 40 years, it is necessary to unconditionally follow all the ten principles of the Helsinki Final Act. Regrettably, we see that often only one principle – principle of territorial integrity – is overvalued. In 1975, when the Helsinki Final Act was signed, there were 33 countries in the OSCE PA, while now their number is 57, and this is due to Point 8 of the Helsinki Final Act,” Geghamyan said in his speech, adding that one-sided interpretation of the principle of territorial integrity could lead to war.

The head of the Armenian delegation quoted a part from Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev’s last year’s Nowruz speech, saying that the Azerbaijanis will return to their historical lands, including Yerevan and Zangezur.

Geghamyan stressed that for thousands of years these lands had belonged to the Armenian people.

Commenting on the unsettled Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, he noted: “NKR was created exclusively in compliance with the laws of the Soviet Union, and is a fully established and independent state, which, is however, facing danger, which is due to the underscoring of the principle of territorial integrity and disregard of the principle of self-determination of nations and the principle of the nations mastering their own fate independently.”

Artashes Geghamyan also touched upon the adoption of the anti-Russian resolution, stressing that as long as Russia does not participate in the OSCE PA works, it is necessary to delay the consideration of the issues regarding that country until the next session to be convened in the Mongolian capital in autumn.

To note, the Russian delegation had boycotted the OSCE PA session as the Finnish authorities did not allow head of the Russian delegation, Russian State Duma Speaker Sergey Naryshkin to enter Finland and participate in the session due to the EU sanctions imposed on him.

“Dear colleagues, in front of me is the full text of the Minsk Agreement and the text of the resolution we are offered to debate today. These documents are absolutely incompatible. Thus, by the adoption of this document we in fact reduce to zero the titanic efforts by “Normandy Four” leaders Angela Merkel, Francois Hollande, and Vladimir Putin,” Geghamyan said in his remarks, adding that by the adoption of the anti-Russian resolution the OSCE PA would do a disservice to the leaders of Germany, France, and Russia, as well as to the Ukrainian people.

Commenting on the Crimean problem, Geghamyan quoted French President Valéry Giscard d'Estaing, who said that the Crimean problem is a peaceful matter, and needs to be resolved in a democratic way.