YEREVAN. – At the solemn event—in Almaty, Kazakhstan—dedicated to the 30th anniversary of the Interparliamentary Assembly of Member Nations of the Commonwealth of Independent States (IPA CIS), president Alen Simonyan of the Republic of Armenia National Assembly (RA NA) congratulated the CIS delegates on the occasion of the jubilee year, the NA informed Armenian News-NEWS.am.
In his address at the event, NA President mainly touched upon the CIS inter-parliamentary cooperation functioning in the inter-state and multi-national format. He noted that the CIS promoted the maintenance and strengthening of the political, social-economic, humanitarian relations, had contribution to the further development of the statehood building of our countries on the post-Soviet area.
Alen Simonyan has underlined that due to joint efforts of the CIS Inter-Parliamentary Assembly for three decades, model law-making activity base has been created which regulates different spheres. He has assured that Armenia always acted in favor of raising the role of the IPA CIS on the international arena, strengthening the cooperation of the structure with the international, regional organizations and counterparts. Speaking about the role of the parliamentary diplomacy and opportunities, the Speaker of Parliament highlighted it especially in the issues of peace and security.
Drawing the attendees’ attention to the current situation of the Nagorno-Karabakh (NK), Alen Simonyan particularly referred to the invasion of the Azerbaijani armed forces on March 24 to Parukh village of the NK Askeran region being in the responsibility zone of the Russian peacekeeping military group, by that grossly violating the 9 November 2020 trilateral statement. The Head of parliament noted that the use of the weapon and the unmanned aviation once again resulted in human losses, and there are wounded. “We expect that the peacekeeping military group of the Russian Federation in Nagorno-Karabakh will undertake practical steps for the settlement of the situation and preventing new victims and military actions, and return the Azerbaijani forces to the positions of March 23,” he noted.
According to the Head of Parliament, the situation in Nagorno-Karabakh is very tense. He stressed that such actions together with the sharp escalation of the security situation in the world could lead to a new escalation in the region. Alen Simonyan has noted that Armenia highly appreciates the targeted statement of the RF Ministry of Defense, which, however, was opposed by the Azerbaijan side. The NA President informed the counterparts that the post-war humanitarian and other issues has not been resolved yet, emphasizing the issue of Armenian prisoners of war and hostages, the number of which, according to the data confirmed by Azerbaijan, is 38.
Alen Simonyan stated that the issues of the preservation of the Armenian historical, cultural and spiritual heritage in the territories under the control of the Azerbaijani armed forces are crucial.
“The guarantee of the rights and freedoms of the Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh and the issue of the status of the Nagorno-Karabakh are fundamental and major. We have stated many times that the conflict is not a matter of territory, but of the right. In this context, we consider important the full implementation of the trilateral statement adopted by the Prime Minister of the Republic of Armenia and the Presidents of the Russian Federation and the Republic of Azerbaijan on 9 November 2020, as well as the trilateral statement adopted in Sochi on 26 November 2021. As before, Armenia attaches importance to normal relations with neighboring countries. We are ready for a dialogue, which should lead to the establishment of lasting peace in the region and therefore, reaffirming the previously formulated position, we offer Azerbaijan to immediately start negotiations on signing a peace treaty,” the RA NA President said in the final part of his speech.
