ARF MEMBER DOWNPLAYS INTERNATIONAL REACTION TO KARABAKH REFERENDUM

Armenpress
Dec 13 2006

YEREVAN, DECEMBER 13, ARMENPRESS: Vahan Hovhanesian from the
Armenian Revolutionary Federation drew a clear difference between
the constitutional referendum in Nagorno-Karabakh on December 10 and
referenda in some other post-Soviet unrecognized republics, saying
the people of Nagorno-Karabakh voted for building a sovereign and
independent sate while others voted for joining others (Russia).

Speaking to a group of journalists today Hovhanesian said the
referendum in Karabakh will further regulate relationships between
different branches of power. Hovhanesian downplayed the negative
reaction of some international organizations which said they would
not recognize the legal validity of the December 10 referendum. But
Hovhanesian said this reaction has no significance to the people
of Nagorno-Karabakh.

He said the ARF had helped a monitoring team to travel to Karabakh
to watch the referendum as ‘their opinion means to us more than what
Terry Davis (secretary General of the Council of Europe) says."

Preliminary results show the referendum passed with the support
of almost 99 percent of the 78,389 Karabakh voters taking part –
a staggeringly positive result that did not come as a surprise for
most residents and observers.

The 142-article document describes the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic as
"a sovereign, democratic legal and social state." It establishes a
broad range of generally defined rights, from the direct election
of the country’s president, parliament and local governments, to the
presumption of innocence and freedom of assembly, speech, and religion.

"I am confident that the adopted document will reinforce
Nagorno-Karabakh statehood and deepen democratization processes going
on here," Arkady Ghukasian, the Karabakh president, told reporters
in the Karabakh capital after the vote.