The declaration regarding Karabakh signed by 29 PACE MPs is a serious and unprecedented contribution to the Karabakh peace process, Armenian MP said.

Aram Safaryan, Secretary of Prosperous Armenia parliamentary group, commented for Armenian News-NEWS.am on “Building of a democratic state by the Republic of Mountainous Karabagh” declaration signed today by several European parliamentarians.

“Azerbaijan will definitely declare the document has no binding force but in fact 29 MPs from 12 countries expressed their stance on the Karabakh issue,” he noted, expressing confidence the declaration along with other documents will underlie working projects of the OSCE Minsk Group.

The document says “Azerbaijan declared itself the successor of the Azerbaijani Republic that existed from 1918-1920. But Mountainous Karabagh (Artsakh) was never a part of that state, and it was because of the Kemalist-Bolshevik “deal” that Artsakh had become a part of Soviet Azerbaijan. In 1991, the people of Karabagh voted “yes” to independence through a referendum that was observed and recognised by numerous international observers. But refusing to accept the Artsakh Armenians’ lawful exercise of their right of self-determination, Azerbaijan launched a large-scale attack which ended with the 1994 ceasefire.”

Prosperous Armenia is a political party included in the ruling coalition. Founded by Armenian businessman Gagik Tsarukyan it debuted in 2007 Armenian parliamentary elections, winning 18 seats in Armenia’s National Assembly.