The Armenian Parliament has discussed, in the first reading, draft amendments to the RA Law on International Agreements. The amendments provide for the possibility of concluding official agreements with unrecognized national entities and ratification of agreements by the RA National Assembly.

RA Deputy FM Shavarsh Kocharyan pointed out that the document can be applied not only to Nagorno-Karabakh, but also to other unrecognized national entities. Responding to a question raised by Stepan Safaryan, Chairman of the Heritage parliamentary faction, namely, “Would it not be better to recognize Nagorno-Karabakh instead of adopting a special law on agreements with unrecognized national unities?” Sh. Kocharyan stressed that recognition of Nagorno-Karabakh is a permanent issue on Armenia’s foreign policy agenda. The right time must come for that.

The Chairman of the Committee on Foreign Relations, RA Parliament, ARF Board member Armen Rustamyan underlined the importance of the draft, as Armenia de facto recognized Nagorno-Karabakh. “It is now time to legalize everything,” Rustamyan said. He stressed that the draft can be considered an interim step on the way to official recognition of Nagorno-Karabakh by Armenia. Moreover, the document gives Nagorno-Karabakh status of national entity equal to that of Armenia, he said.