Masis Mailyan, Chairman of the NKR Public Council for Foreign Policy and Security, answered NEWS.am’s questions:

Question: What is your opinion of yesterday’s verdict by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague?

Answer: I welcome the ICJ verdict on Kosovo. As a precedent, it is supposed to play an important role in the international recognition of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic (NKR).

Question: What can be its consequences in international practice, particularly for the Nagorno-Karabakh peace process?

Answer: The year 2008 saw the start of recognition of the autonomies that had declared independence before the USSR and Federal Republic of Yugoslavia collapsed. The West backed Kosovo’s independence, while Abkhazia and South Ossetia were recognized by Russia and some other countries. Thus, the U.S., EU, Russia, as well as a number of other states, consider recognition the most effective mechanism of ensuring stability in the conflict zones.

This international practice must be applied to Artsakh as well.

The OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs should reject the obsolete methods they have so far applied to settle the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and start drafting new proposals for the NKR in the context of present-day international legal norms.

Question: There is an opinion that the ICJ verdict is more political than legal. Can the international community be expected to take up a similar stance on other similar conflicts?

Answer: The ICJ probably “acquitted” the states that recognized Kosovo’s independence for political reasons, in their own interests. We cannot expect a similar approach to be necessarily shown to other conflicts. Obviously, the principles approved in 1975 are revised, and the task set to Armenian and NKR diplomacy, as well as lobbyist organizations of the Armenian Diaspora, is to make a proper use of the ICJ verdict for international recognition of Nagorno-Karabakh.