INDEPENDENCE IS NOT RECOGNIZED BY PASSING A LAW

KarabakhOpen
31-08-2007 11:00:06

The leader of the Heritage Party of Armenia Raffi Hovannisian presented
a bill on the recognition of the independence of Nagorno-Karabakh
Republic. We asked the chair of the committee of foreign relations
of the NKR National Assembly Vahram Atanesyan to comment on this
initiative.

"As far as I know, there is no international practice of recognizing
the independence of a country through a legislative act. As a rule
these issues are settled by diplomats. If Raffi Hovannisian thinks
Armenia should recognize the independence of Karabakh in this way,
it is his approach," Vahram Atanesyan said. He added that political
ethic does not allow him to comment on the motivation and probability
of adoption of the bill.

As to the phenomenon itself, Vahram Atanesyan thinks it is not
something new. In 1992 the Supreme Soviet of Armenia decided to
recognize Karabakh as a separate unit from Azerbaijan. Then in separate
stages of the talks, namely in 1993 when Heidar Aliyev came to power
when the negotiations were said to start from the zero point, Armenia
did not rule out the recognition of the independence of NKR. Vahram
Atanesyan thinks the president of Armenia made a similar statement
and emphasized that such a step is possible in case the negotiations
reach a deadlock. However, the member of parliament says: "It would be
pessimistic to say that the talks are currently deadlocked, although
there is no progress either."