13 YEARS OF DE FACTO INDEPENDENCE

Azat Artsakh – Nagorno Karabakh Republic (NKR)
15 Dec 04

13 years ago, on December 10, 1991 a referendum was held in Nagorni
Karabakh and 99.98 per cent voted for independence of NKR. On December
28 the election to the Supreme Council took place in Stepanakert under
the bombs of the Azerbaijani army. On January 6, 1992 the NKR
legislative body adopted the Declaration of State Independence of NKR
based upon the right for self-determination and the will of the people
of Nagorni Karabakh. On the same day the members of parliament
extended messages to the UN, countries of the world appealing them to
recognize NKR and prevent another genocide in Artsakh. On January 8
the Supreme Council chose its first speaker, 32-years-old Artur
Mkrtichian. These events were preceded by the law on dissolution of
the Autonomous Region of Nagorni Karabakh adopted by the Supreme
Council of Azerbaijan by which NKAR was dissolved as an ethnic and
territorial unit and the NK districts obeyed thenew administrative
centers. By its November 28, 1991 decision the USSR Committee on
Constitutional Control condemned the action of Azerbaijan as a
violation ofthe status of NKAR maintained by the Constitution of the
USSR. One of the active participants of the Karabakh movement, member
of parliament Maxim Mirzoyan claims that the national liberation
movement of the Armenians of Nagorni Karabakh turned into an open
confrontation and then a war due to Baku. `However, fortune favoured
the fair decision of the people of Artsakh who by their heroism and
stoicism managed to eliminate the danger of physical extermination and
step on the way of fulfilment of their right for self-determination
based on the basic international norms,’ told Maxim Mirzoyan to the
reporter of`Regnum’.

AA.
15-12-2004