Question. The election process in Artsakh, which lasted from March 31 to April 14 and was concluded with the election of a new president and parliament, as expected,  received a negative reaction from Azerbaijan. How would you comment on that reaction?

Answer: Through several statements the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Armenia has already expressed its position on the elections held in Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh).

In this regard, I would like to only emphasize two circumstances. First, in the context of the Artsakh elections, the highest authorities of Azerbaijan have made very critical comments towards the European human rights institutions. Indeed, this was not accidental. It should be recalled that the European human rights institutions made an important assessment on the parliamentary elections held in Azerbaijan this February by which the low level of legitimacy of those elections was revealed .

It is obvious that in a country where the power has never been transferred through democratic process, the formation of new authorities in Artsakh through competitive and democratic elections should have triggered a nervous reaction.

Second, Azerbaijan tries to involve the international community in its campaign against human rights in Artsakh. To that end, Azerbaijan doesn’t refrain from strictly selective and distorted presentation of international reactions to these elections.

Azerbaijan attempts to ignore the key messages of the same reactions, which refer to the role of the people of Artsakh in determining their future, and the importance of elections from the perspective of organizing public life in Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh). Meanwhile, these messages are crucial for creating an environment conducive to advancement of the peace process.

In our region, the formation of authorities who received the vote of the people, who express the will of people and who are accountable before those people, is extremely important in terms of the transformation of conflict and the reconciliation of peoples. The people of Artsakh took another important step in this direction on March 31 and April 14.