BARONESS CAROLINE COX ENDORSES NAGORNO-KARABAKH REPUBLIC’S RIGHT TO INDEPENDENCE

YEREVAN, April 23. / ARKA /. Baroness Caroline Cox (UK) has endorsed
today Nagorno-Karabakh Republic’s right to independence comparing it
with Kosovo when speaking at the global forum “Against the Crime of
Genocide” in Yerevan.

The two-day gathering commemorating the centennial of the Armenian
Genocide in the Ottoman Turkey has brought to Armenia some 600
delegates from many countries.

“Nagorno-Karabakh, like Kosovo, has the same right to independence
and self-determination and we must fight for justice to triumph for
Artsakh (the Armenian name of Nagorno-Karabakh),” she said.

Baroness Cox is a strong supporter of self-determination for the
Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh. She was awarded the Armenian Mkhitar
Gosh and Mesrop Mashtots medals. She has made over 80 trips to
the region.

The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict erupted into armed clashes after the
collapse of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s as the predominantly
Armenian-populated enclave of Azerbaijan, sought to secede from
Azerbaijan and declared its independence backed by succeeding
referendum. A truce was brokered by Russia in 1994, although no
permanent peace agreement has been signed.

Since then, Nagorno-Karabakh and several adjacent regions have been
under the control of Armenian forces of Karabakh. Nagorno-Karabakh
is the longest-running post-Soviet era conflict and has continued
to simmer despite the relative peace of the past two decades, with
snipers causing tens of deaths a year. -0-

From: Baghdasarian