The Democratic Party of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic (NKR) has joined the European Free Alliance (EFA) as an associated member, EFA President François Alfonsi said at a press-conference today. According to him, this was fixed in a Joint Declaration signed in capital Stepanakert.

In Alfonsi’s words, the main objective of the ENA is to protect human rights and peoples’ right to self-determination. “We are dealing with this [issue] within the EU, for instance, in case of Scotland and Catalonia. But we have decided to go further and protect the right of self determination of those people, which are considered European, even not being EU members. This is the case with Nagorno-Karabakh,” Alfonsi said.

He also said the signed declaration supposes political cooperation and will relate to 12 MPs of the European Parliament. “This, one might say, will be the voice of Nagorno-Karabakh so that the right of Nagorno-Karabakh population to self-determination is finally recognized,” Alfonsi stressed.

He expressed hope that the ENA will be able to contribute to the normalization of conflict between Nagorno-Karabakh and Azerbaijan. “Peoples’ right to self-determination and freedom is an important democratic platform for us. And our message to the EU is that it is necessary to contribute to the democracy in Karabakh, as well as to the implementation of Karabakh people’s  right to self-determination.  We tell Baku that democracy must be respected. For us the struggle of Karabakh people for independence is a struggle for liberty and democracy. For this reason our Alliance will support NKR in every way,” Alfonsi said.