Karabakh Parliament Welcomes Crimea Vote
Stepanakert residents gather at Rebirth Square for concert dedicated to Crimea’s expression of self-determination
STEPANAKERT—The political factions represented in the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic’s National Assembly on Tuesday issued an announcement welcoming Crimea’s vote on secession from Ukraine as an expression of national self-determination.
A joint statement signed by the Motherland, Democracy and the Armenian Revolutionary Federation faction and the “Artsakhatun” deputy group said that Sunday’s referendum in Crimea “has become another precedent of realization of the right of peoples to self-determination, once again proving that territorial integrity of states does not prevail over people’s free expression of will in international law.”
The announcement welcomed the Crimea’s vote and emphasixed on December 10, 1991 the people of Nagorno-Karabakh “realized its right to self-determination and through a referendum said their decisive word for the independent Nagorno Karabakh Republic, which was re-affirmed by the results of the Constitutional Referendum of December 10, 2006.”
The Karabakh parliament also urged that post-referendum matters be resolved peacefully and based on mutual respect.
Meanwhile, in Stepanakert’s Rebirth Square, the city’s first spring concert was dedicated to the Crimean vote.
“The venue was not randomly chosen, since 22 years ago the people of Nagorno-Karabakh began their struggle for self-determination from this very square,” the executive editor of the Artsakh State TV told RFE/RL’s Lusine Musayelian.
High level Karabakh leaders, among them President Bako Sahakian and Parliament Speaker Ashot Ghulian attended the concert.
“The concert is called Artsakh’s supports nations’ self-determination,” Presidential spokesperson David Babayan told RFE/RL.
