DUSHANBE, May 5, 2016, Asia-Plus – The Government of Armenia has endorsed a bill that recognizes the independence of the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region,
BBC’s Russian Service
reports.
Deputy Foreign Minister Shavarsh Kocharyan reportedly presented the draft law at the government session today. The draft law will be considered at the extraordinary session on May 10.
The draft law on recognition of Nagorno-Karabakh has been proposed by two opposition lawmakers including a former prime minister.
Meanwhile some experts say this move risks adding to tensions in the aftermath of a four-day war between Armenians and Azerbaijan over the breakaway territory.
Chicago Tribune
said on May 2 that Hikmat Haciyev, a spokesman for Azerbaijan”s Foreign Ministry, said in an e-mailed statement that Nagorno-Karabakh”s recognition by Armenia would end the peace process.
“It would be a mistake to recognize the independence of Nagorno-Karabakh at this stage,” Richard Giragosian, director of the Regional Studies Center in Yerevan, said by phone, according to
Chicago Tribune
. Such a move is ultimately unlikely, as the threat of recognition provides the government with more leverage, he said.
Tensions reached the boiling point in Nagorno-Karabakh last month. Early April skirmishes in the disputed territory of Nagorno-Karabakh are being called the worst outbreak of violence since the 1994 cease-fire that ended a war that killed 30,000 people in Armenia and Azerbaijan. Already christened the “four-day war,” the conflict that left more than 140 people dead ended with a truce in Moscow on April 6, but the situation remains volatile.
For nearly 30 years, the landlocked, mountainous region has been frozen in an unresolved dispute between Azerbaijan, in which it lies, and its ethnic Armenian majority, backed by neighboring Armenia. Conflict in the region erupted just before the demise of the Soviet Union in 1988. Officially, Nagorno-Karabakh remains a part of Azerbaijan within its internationally recognized borders, and Baku opposes any international recognition for the territory. Armenia has also not recognized Nagorno-Karabakh as an independent state, with the president saying in the past that such a move would derail the ongoing international negotiations about the future of the area.
