A number of US Congress members have announced that at the invitation of the Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) side, their staff will travel to Nagorno-Karabakh to follow the March 31 elections there, the Voice of America reports.

Azerbaijan does not recognize Nagorno-Karabakh.

Whether or not Azerbaijan recognizes Karabakh's independence, life there will continue to evolve, according to Congresswoman Jackie Kanchelian-Speier who has Armenian roots. She added that it is very important that the democracy there is continuous.

Congressman Frank Pallone's senior adviser, James Johnson, is also planning to travel as part of the US Congress staff to Karabakh to monitor the elections there. Johnson said he has studied and found that the previous elections in Artsakh were free, fair, and transparent by all standards. He said they hope they will be free this time, too.

And Congressman Pallone himself added that it is very important to show the world that democracy is established in Nagorno-Karabakh. He said they want to point out that there is a working democracy in Artsakh that meets all the standards of a free society.

Despite the decision of a number of Congress members, however, the US State Department did not recognize the past elections in Nagorno-Karabakh.