INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE HELD IN STEPANAKERT FINISHED ITS WORK

DeFacto Agency
May 26 2008
Armenia

STEPANAKERT, 26.05.08. DE FACTO. The international conference entitled
"Karabakh Movement: Realities and Perspectives" held in Stepanakert
on May 23-24 finished its work.

It was devoted to the 20th anniversary of the Karabakh movement.

Such conferences were held before. However, the peculiarity of this
one is that it sums up the results of the twenty-year-long way to
independence.

On May 22, talking to DE FACTO correspondent, the Chair of the NKR
National Assembly Ashot Gulian noted since such a measure had not been
held in Nagorno-Karabakh for a long time there had emerged a necessity
of serious analysis of the Karabakh process. The Parliament’s Speaker
expressed hope that in the course of the discussions it would become
possible to find new resources for the Karabakh settlement process’s
activation.

Actually, the conference met the expectations. Active discussions were
held in all three sections. The participants considered a wide spectrum
of urgent issues: from historical-legal grounds of Nagorno-Karabakh’s
independence to the peculiarities of international perception of the
Nagorno-Karabakh issue in the context of geopolitical processes.

Summing up the Stepanakert conference’s results, the Karabakh
Parliament’s Speaker especially mentioned the fact that quite a
great amount of useful material necessary for further analytical work
had been gathered in the course of the conference. "The conference’s
materials will be systematized and published in a separate collection",
Ashot Gulian said.

"There has always been a necessity to hold such conferences", Ashot
Gulian underscored. He added, "Naturally, Karabakh will be glad to
receive invitations to participate in a conference on the Karabakh
issue outside the NKR". However, according to the Speaker, it is more
reasonable to conduct such measures in Karabakh, as "it will enable
to immediately learn the sentiments and opinions of the Republic’s
citizens and authorities".

Addressing the conference’s participants, the Parliaments’ Speaker
expressed hope that the proposals put forward at the conference
would help Karabakh in its just struggle for the international
recognition. "Our nation has chosen the way to independence long ago –
it is a way determined by the Karabakh movement, and our current task
is to achieve the goal with minimal losses, without serious shocks
and with great success", Ashot Gulian said.