Your trusted source

Former Armenian lawmaker, political analyst Karen Bekaryan took to Facebook on Thursday to call on world governments and international organizations to take efforts towards the recognition of the Republic of Artsakh amid the existential threat facing the Artsakh Armenians. Below is the full text of his statement.

“For the sake of the existence of the Artsakh people,

• for the protection of inalienable human rights,

• for the effective fight against international terrorism,

• for the sake of preventing the full crumbling of the international law,

• for peace,

• for the sake of ensuring the inadmissibility of the use of force or the threat of force,

• for the protection of universal values,

• for the sake of the states’ and international organizations' own reputation,

• for the sake of the victory of the struggle for justice over the darkness of indifference (involving every individual in any corner of the world),

• for the sake of the present and the future:

1. States and international organizations must immediately start taking efforts towards the recognition of Artsakh's independence.

2. A clear-cut, short-term ultimatum must be given to Azerbaijan by the Minsk Group co-chairs jointly or individually – either Azerbaijan ends any combat action within the specified timeframe and comes back to the negotiation process without preconditions, or the co-chairs recognize Artsakh's independence.

3. It must be made clear to Azerbaijan that peace talks on the settlement of the conflict can take place only in the case of a full-fledged observance of the ceasefire and the introduction of verification mechanisms.

4. Azerbaijan's failure to renounce its current behavior must change the substance of the negotiations, which entails negotiations on the clarification of the borders between the partially recognized Artsakh and Azerbaijan.

Russia, France, friendly nations, the EU, U.S., states, international organizations, individuals, diplomats, the Diaspora, it is time to take immediate action because every single minute's delay may cost human lives!”