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    Categories: 2022

Armenian opposition to hold emergency parliamentary session over Artsakh

June 3 2022
  • In Daily Brief
  • June 3, 2022
  • Sabrine Donohoe
Armenia’s opposition factions will attempt to hold an emergency parliamentary session today to discuss the future of the breakaway state of Artsakh.

Artsakh—which occupies a portion of the Nagorno-Karabakh region—sits squarely in the larger border disputes between Azerbaijan and Armenia and is internationally recognized as belonging to Azerbaijan.

Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan recently hinted at a pro-Azerbaijani stance regarding the status of the Nagorno-Karabakh region in a bid to mend Armenia-Turkey relations. In response, opposition factions held mass rallies and demand a resolution on Artsakh’s sovereignty.

Today’s draft resolution supports the sovereignty of Artsakh with Armenia as its sole security guarantor, a land connection between Armenia and Artsakh and the withdrawal of Azerbaijani troops from the area—with the intention to finalize the demarcation of Artsakh’s borders. In the context of Armenian-Turkish relations, the opposition maintains that it would refuse a potential land connection with Artsakh if this meant a dual connection to Azerbaijan and Turkey.

The ruling Civil Contract party is unlikely to participate in today’s session. The Russia-Ukraine war has sapped Russia’s ability to back Armenia, and Turkey is becoming the power broker in the conflict. Repairing Armenia-Turkey relations may provide the country with better bargaining ability in the future.

Markos Nalchajian: