The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) has issued the following statement on the adoption by the French Senate of a resolution recognizing the independence of the Republic of Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh Republic):

"We welcome the resolution on the need to recognize the Republic of Artsakh adopted today, on 25 November, by the Senate, the upper chamber of the French parliament.

We express our deep gratitude to the senators and to all those individuals and organizations whose efforts made this historic decision possible. It is noteworthy that, according to the adopted resolution, the Senate, among other important issues, has condemned the Azerbaijani-Turkish military aggression unleashed against Artsakh on September 27 with the participation of terrorist mercenaries, and has called on the French authorities to take all possible measures to ensure the restoration of the borders established in 1994, which were, in fact, enshrined in the term-less trilateral ceasefire agreement signed by the Republic of Artsakh, Armenia and Azerbaijan.

We attach great importance to the courageous position of the French Senate to call on the Government to “recognize the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic and to make that recognition the subject of negotiations for the establishment of lasting peace”. We hope that this decision of the Senate will inspire the adoption of resolutions of the same nature and the same power, powerful resolutions, first in the French National Assembly, as well as in other countries of the world.

We reiterate that the armed aggression against Artsakh, the military occupation of a large part of its territory and Azerbaijan's public refusal to discuss the status issue, have removed any impediments to the recognition of the independence of the Republic of Artsakh by other states, which was largely due to concerns of hindering the peaceful settlement of the Azerbaijan-Karabakh conflict.

We are convinced that the international recognition of the Republic of Artsakh is also in line with the medium- and long-term interests of the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairing countries, including the Russian Federation.

The international recognition of the Republic of Artsakh is based on the principles of justice and equal rights of peoples and will make an important contribution to ensuring greater security, stability and predictability in the South Caucasus."