By Ruzanna Stepanian
YEREVEN (Aztutyun) — Armenia’s government does not regard Nagorno-Karabakh’s exiled leaders as legal representatives of the region and its displaced population, parliament speaker Alen Simonyan said on September 9.
“Legally, Nagorno-Karabakh does not exist as an entity,” he said. “There are only our deported [Karabakh Armenian] compatriots whose problems the Armenian government is addressing in an excellent way.”
Simonyan, who is a key member of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s political team, made the comments after opposition members of the Armenian parliament challenged him to explain why he has been blocking sessions of a joint commission of Armenian and Karabakh lawmakers that had existed for decades.
“I think that we must very seriously consider abolishing that format because Nagorno-Karabakh, Artsakh officials don’t exist anymore and nobody has such a status in Armenia anymore,” he replied.
“The Artsakh Republic disbanded itself by the decision of its officials,” he said on the parliament floor, dismissing opposition arguments that the unrecognized republic is referenced in many Armenian legal acts.
