Baroness Caroline Cox endorses Nagorno-Karabakh republic’s right to independence

YEREVAN, April 23. / ARKA /. Baroness Caroline Cox (UK) has endorsed today Nagorno-Karabakh Republic’s right to independence comparing it with Kosovo when speaking at the global forum "Against the Crime of Genocide" in Yerevan.

The two-day gathering commemorating the centennial of the Armenian Genocide in the Ottoman Turkey has brought to Armenia some 600 delegates from many countries.

"Nagorno-Karabakh, like Kosovo, has the same right to independence and self-determination and we must fight for justice to triumph for Artsakh (the Armenian name of Nagorno-Karabakh),” she said.

Baroness Cox is a strong supporter of self-determination for the Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh. She was awarded the Armenian Mkhitar Gosh and Mesrop Mashtots medals. She has made over 80 trips to the region.

The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict erupted into armed clashes after the collapse of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s as the predominantly Armenian-populated enclave of Azerbaijan, sought to secede from Azerbaijan and declared its independence backed by succeeding referendum. A truce was brokered by Russia in 1994, although no permanent peace agreement has been signed.

Since then, Nagorno-Karabakh and several adjacent regions have been under the control of Armenian forces of Karabakh. Nagorno-Karabakh is the longest-running post-Soviet era conflict and has continued to simmer despite the relative peace of the past two decades, with snipers causing tens of deaths a year. -0-