Pashinyan says Karabakh status is main issue on agenda
YEREVAN, July 9. /ARKA/. The status of Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) continues to be the main issue on our agenda, Armenian Acting Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said today at a meeting with President of Artsakh Arayik Harutyunyan in Yerevan.
"The most important issue on our agenda continues to be the problem of clarifying the status of Artsakh," the press service of the government quoted him as saying.
Pashinyan noted that after November 9, 2020, the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs issued a statement, in fact, fixing this agenda as a working one.
"We must also clarify our actions here, try to adhere to a certain strategy in the new environment and mark the directions for achieving our goals," he said.
In turn, Harutyunyan stressed that the most important problem of Artsakh is security and status.
"We must strive to ensure that it (status) remains on the agenda. All your statements, our statements that the path of independence of Artsakh is not subject to discussion, indicate that we need to continue our struggle," he said.
The Artsakh President assured that the Defense Army and the peacekeeping forces jointly control the situation. "The geography is complex, but fortunately there were no major concerns," he said.
On September 27, 2020, Azerbaijani armed forces, backed by Turkey and foreign mercenaries and terrorists, attacked Nagorno-Karabakh along the entire front line using rocket and artillery weapons, heavy armored vehicles, military aircraft and prohibited types of weapons such as cluster bombs and phosphorus weapons.
After 44 days of the war, on November 9, the leaders of Russia, Azerbaijan and Armenia signed a statement on the cessation of all hostilities. According to the document, the town of Shushi, the districts of Agdam, Kelbajar and Lachin were handed over to Azerbaijan, with the exception of a 5-kilometer corridor connecting Karabakh with Armenia.
A Russian peacekeeping contingent was deployed along the contact line in Karabakh and along the Lachin corridor. -0-
