Ruben Melikyan, a human rights activist, Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) former Human Rights Ombudsman, and co-founder of the “Legal Path” NGO of Armenia, considers the drafting of the Artsakh National Assembly (NA) factions’ bill "On the Occupied Territories of Artsakh" as welcome and important.

"The idea itself is welcome. If the first Armenian state [i.e., Armenia] seems to have washed its hands of the issues related to the Artsakh issue, then the second Armenian state [i.e., Artsakh] should at least take some steps.

This law [proposal] has two components: political and legal. The political [one] has announced to the international community that we do not reconcile with the results of the [44-day Artsakh] war [in the fall of 2020], consider that it was illegal, and the constitutional territories of the Artsakh Republic must be returned.

The second is the legal component, and it will provide some starting points for the residents of those territories, which is also important from the point of view of protecting their rights.

As for their practical significance in international relations, we must be honest and realize that the demands made by an unrecognized state cannot have the same ‘weight’ as those of a recognized state, for example. When Azerbaijan was doing similar actions at the time, those actions really were creating some inconveniences for investors, and so on. In any case, similar actions of recognized and unrecognized countries, unfortunately, do not have the same force and impact," Melikyan told Armenian News-NEWS.am.

According to the former ombudsman of Artsakh, the aforesaid initiative is important at the political level, so that future policy can announce to the world that it considers those territories occupied.

"This in itself has important significance in terms of the future negotiation process," he added.

Melikyan does not believe that the current authorities of Armenia can hinder this initiative in any way.

Earlier we informed that the leaders of the five factions of the Artsakh NA have drafted a joint bill "On the Occupied Territories of Artsakh," and they will table it at the NA for the first reading on Wednesday.