YEREVAN (Armenpress)–The Armenian Foreign Affairs Ministry responded harshly to a statement by the European Union last Friday in which the EU reiterated its support for the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan and recalled that it does not recognize the independence of Nagorno Karabakh.
A statement by the EU Presidency noted that the EU has always emphasized the need to establish a stable political agreement concerning Nagorno Karabakh–which should be acceptable to both Armenia and Azerbaijan.
The statement by the Armenian Foreign Ministry–signed by Dziunik Aghajanian–a spokesperson of the ministry–said Armenia expresses its concern over the statement on the Nagorno Karabakh presidential elections made by the EU–especially since such a statement is inappropriate for a Union which itself promotes European values for the establishment of democracy.
"Since 1994–similar statemen’s have been made about various elections–which have been held in Nagorno Karabakh–and therefore–these statemen’s come as no surprise. However–what is worrisome is that these statemen’s are made without a priori agreemen’s with the Minsk Group co-chairmen who are immediately involved in the negotiations process–thereby unnecessarily complicating their years of effort in the search for a final resolution to the conflict," it read.
"Nevertheless–we welcome the EU’s insistence that the conflict must be resolved with the agreement of the sides–and that these elections cannot adversely affect the peace process.
"We believe it is essential to point out that there is no alternative to elections which are the only democratic means of organizing public life–and the population of Nagorno Karabakh has the full right–without the positive or negative assessment of any outside entity–to take this vital step to fully live their lives and finally bring the negotiation process to its logical conclusion.
"The Republic of Armenia welcomes the unswerving will of the people of Nagorno Karabakh to conduct elections and thereby create a democratic society–regardless of this and other similar politically motivated statemen’s."