KARABAKH REFERENDUM MUST BE IN YERABLUR
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[05:44 pm] 27 November, 2008
"I sent my only child to the liberation war in Artsakh. Give me my son
back and then give the lands to Azerbaijan," said mother of deceased
liberation soldier Mrs. Parandzem during a round-table discussion at
the "Miatsum" women’s initiative.
The round-table discussion was aimed at finding solutions to preserve
the liberated lands and relocate the people. Among participants
were intellectuals, as well as representatives of NGOs and political
parties.
Member of "Miatsum" Grizelda Ghazaryan said that today many people
don’t even know where Karabakh is, what the defense system is and
its significance in terms of liberated lands. That is why they are
organizing trips to different cities and Marzes of Armenia to raise
public awareness of the developments in Karabakh. But every time the
members face police intimidation.
During the discussion, participants also expressed their concerns
about RA foreign policy.
As far as the issue of self-determination and liberated lands is
concerned, the women believe that the people of Artsakh play a decisive
role. However, according to member of the political council of the
People’s Party of Armenia Ruzan Khachatryan, protests are only held
in Armenia and not in NKR. The people of Karabakh were supposed to be
the ones standing up for their rights and demanding the authorities
to come to terms with them," underlined Khachatryan.
Nanor Sefilyan, wife of squadron commander of Shushi Jirair Sefilyan,
proposed to take action. According to Nanor Sefilyan, the people
of Karabakh are active and all they need is somebody to organize
the protest. Former head of the governmental commission for ethnic
minorities Hranush Kharatyan made a statement to express lack of
confidence in the OSCE Minsk Group, as well as the active political
parties not taking any concrete steps for the conflict settlement.
"The OSCE must conduct a referendum in Yerablur. They lie when they
say that there has to be discussion with the people before signing
the treaty," said Kharatyan.
Co-chair of the Armenian committee of the "Helsinki Civil Assembly"
Natalia Martirosyan proposed to continue the marches, even with a
small group of women.