The joint session of the National Security Councils of Armenia and Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) was held under the chairmanship of Premier of the Republic of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan and President of the Republic of Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh Republic) Bako Sahakyan in Stepanakert. The main item on the agenda was the joint evaluations of the current state of affairs in the peaceful settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and the outline for coordinated actions.

Armenia’s Premier Nikol Pashinyan and Artsakh’s President Bako Sahakyan gave speeches before the discussion on the items on the agenda.

In his speech, Nikol Pashinyan particularly stated the following:

“Allow me to welcome the joint session of the National Security Councils of the Republic of Armenia and the Republic of Artsakh, which is an unprecedented event in the entire history of the existence of our republics. This event is very symbolic and has a very specific meaning. This means that the relations between the Republic of Armenia and the Republic of Artsakh are entering a qualitatively new stage. As to what manifestations there may be in this stage in the future, this is perhaps one of the major topics for our discussion today.

Dear colleagues,

This is my first visit to the Republic of Artsakh following the parliamentary elections held in Armenia on 9 December 2018, and I would like to emphasize that, based on the results of the parliamentary elections, the My Step Alliance has received a powerful mandate from the people of Armenia to raise the level of the Republic of Artsakh as an entity and to take steps aimed at involving Artsakh in the negotiations over the Artsakh issue as the main party to the conflict. These are points that were of pivotal significance in the pre-election platform of the My Step Alliance.

The Government of the Republic of Armenia and I, as Prime Minister having received the vote of confidence of the people, will, based on this, take consistent actions in this direction, and this issue has been and will continue to be one of the major points in our discussions with President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev and the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs. I deem it necessary to underline the fact that Artsakh’s involvement in the negotiation process is not a whim for Armenia, much less a precondition. It is a simple statement that Artsakh’s involvement is of pivotal significance for settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

This stance is an expression of our respect towards not only the people of Artsakh and their rights, but also all of our colleagues participating in the negotiation process because we are truly interested in and want to achieve an exclusively peaceful settlement of the conflict and believe in the negotiation process, the effectiveness of which is a major priority for us, and in terms of effectiveness of the negotiation process, this issue, as I mentioned, is of pivotal significance.

The scope of the negotiations known to this point includes, in essence, all interested parties, except for one. Azerbaijan, represented by President Aliyev, is represented in those negotiations. As a matter of fact, President Aliyev also represents, as he likes to say, the Azerbaijani community of Nagorno-Karabakh since the representatives of that community, being citizens of Azerbaijan, have participated in the presidential elections in Azerbaijan and, consequently, have also given the President of Azerbaijan the power to represent them, and therefore, the presence of the President of Azerbaijan around the negotiating table also ensures the presence of Azerbaijanis who used to live in Karabakh.

The Republic of Armenia, represented by the country’s Prime Minister who, in this case, acts as a representative elected by the people of the Republic of Armenia, is also represented in those negotiations. Consequently, the people of Armenia are also represented in the negotiation process.

The international community, represented by the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs, is also represented in the negotiation process. Of course, this is all good and extremely important, and we highly appreciate the efforts that the co-chairing countries of the OSCE Minsk Group have made and are making in the peace process. However, the main question is the following: Who represents the people of Artsakh or, as it is said in some cases, the Armenians of Karabakh in the negotiation process? The problem is that in the current negotiation process, there is no representative with the power and the legitimacy to represent the people of Artsakh because there is no entity having received the vote and power of the people of Artsakh or, as some of our colleagues prefer to say, the Armenians of Karabakh around the negotiating table.

I have said several times that the Prime Minister of Armenia cannot exercise such a power simply because the people of Artsakh neither run in nor vote during the elections in Armenia, and so, the Prime Minister of Armenia does not fall within the scope of people with the power to represent the people of Artsakh. This is not a matter of whim or precondition, but a matter of typical legitimacy, and legitimacy is the major factor in relations these days, not only in interior political, but also in interstate and international relations.”