An Armenian parliamentary commission on foreign affairs will debate a draft law recognizing the self-proclaimed Nagorno-Karabakh Republic’s independence, the head of the commission Artak Zakaryan said.
"There will be a session on Monday and the commission’s findings will be submitted to parliament," Sputnik cited Zakaryan as saying.
After submission, parliamentary regulations allow for the draft bill to be added to the Armenian National Assembly’s four-day agenda. The regulation allows lawmakers to either add the bill on the agenda, reject, or postpone it.
Commenting on a possible recognition of Karabakh, a historian and political analyst, Candidate of Historical Sciences Oleg Kuznetsov, said that even if Yerevan recognizes the NKR, it will not affect the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict in general. "Baku has been making efforts for a long time to ensure that such an amorphous quasi-state as the NKR did not appear in any documents as a participant of the negotiation process or a subject of international law. In addition, there is a contradiction to the UN Security Council resolutions, which underline that the conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh is not a conflict between Karabakh and Azerbaijan, but a conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan. This step will not create a new platform for negotiations," the expert noted.
Kuznetsov reminded that Estonia once has recognized Ichkeria, but it did not stop Russia from holding a series of counter-terrorist operations in Chechnya and restoring the constitutional order. "Therefore, I believe that all of these steps on the part of Yerevan is a hopeless attempt to prolong the agony of the occupation regime in Nagorno-Karabakh," the expert summed up.
A Vestnik Kavkaza expert, deputy head of the M.V. Lomonosov MSU Information and Analysis Center, Andrey Petrov, noted Armenia does not gain anything from recognizing the NKR. "First, a recognition of NKR cancels the peaceful negotiation process in the framework of the OSCE Minsk Group. A cancellation of the Minsk process means the abolition of all the documents restraining active military clashes, which means the resumption of war, in which today's Yerevan has no strategic or tactical advantage over Baku," the expert said, adding that a recognition of Karabakh would mean de facto a loss of Karabakh's for the Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan'.
Moreover, Petrov pointed out that a recognition of the NKR by Yerevan is a step against the international community, which views Nagorno-Karabakh and seven surrounding districts as occupied territories of Azerbaijan in all the key documents. "No matter how strong the Armenian diaspora outside the country is, its actions will not be enough for even one world power to support Yerevan's decision, therefore, Armenia risks facing economic sanctions," he noted.
"Yerevan's plan is to delay the negotiation process using all means possible, maintaining the status quo on the contact line as long as possible. New battles for Karabakh did not change this plan," the expert explained.
