YEREVAN. – Azerbaijan and Turkey do not realize to this day that the citizens of Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) did not become independent from Azerbaijan, but from the USSR.

National Assembly (NA) Vice Chairman and ruling Republican Party of Armenia (RPA) Spokesperson Eduard Sharmazanov said the abovementioned at a press conference on Wednesday.

“Artsakh has never been part of Azerbaijan; it seceded from the Soviet Union, before its collapse, as did three EU members: Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia,” noted the NA deputy speaker. “I’ve said in [the Latvian capital city of] Riga, too, that ‘by questioning this matter, you question your right to self-determination.’ But the world, whether or not Azerbaijan wants, goes on the road of the victory campaign of self-determination.”

The RPA spokesperson reflected also on the Karabakh conflict-related talks that were conducted in Saint Petersburg, Russia, and in the Austrian capital city of Vienna.

“After the April [2016] war [which Azerbaijan unleashed against Artsakh], Armenian diplomacy has clarified and toughened its [respective] position that stems from the interests of our state,” he added. “Unlike Azerbaijan, we [the Armenian party to the Karabakh conflict] are building neither an anti-Azerbaijani and nor an anti-Turkish diplomacy; we are building a society that fights ‘for.’”