Today the Armenian government made a decision to convene an extraordinary session of the National Assembly (Parliament) of the country.
Minister, Chief of Government Staff David Harutyunyan proposed to hold an extraordinary session of the parliament on May 10th at 12.00 AM (11.00 AM MSK), which was approved by the Cabinet. It is expected that they will discuss a bill, involving the recognition of the self-proclaimed ‘Nagorno Karabakh Republic’, which was approved today by the Armenian government and sent to the Parliament,’’ RIA Novosti reports.
The authors of the bill are the head of the parliamentary faction of the ‘Heritage’ opposition Party Zaruhi Postanjyan and a deputy from the opposition party of ‘Armenian National Congress’ Hrant Bagratyan. The parliamentary faction ‘Heritage’ has repeatedly contributed to the recognition of the so-called ‘NKR’ to the National Assembly of Armenia. Since then, the document was repeatedly deflected in the first place with the help of efforts of the ruling Republican Party of Armenia. Armenian MPs justified the refusal to recognize the independence of the self-proclaimed ‘NKR’ by their reluctance to harm the course of the negotiations on the peaceful settlement of the Karabakh conflict. According Armenia’s Foreign Ministry, it was premature to consider this issue for the same reason.
Recall, on the night of April 2 all frontier positions of Azerbaijan were exposed to heavy fire from large-caliber weapons, mortars, grenade launchers and guns. In addition, Azerbaijani settlements near the front line, densely populated by civilians, were shelled.
Three weeks after the new truce between the parties of the conflict the Armenian Armed Forces shelled peaceful Azerbaijani villages and the town of Terter. Two villagers of Chemenli in the Agdam region were killed: Famil Mustafayev and Ali Huseynov. Anar Abdullayev, Zahid Rahimov, Sirdash Kerimov and Ail Mammadov and the resident of Efendi Elnur Mammadov, the resident of Garadagli Elgiz Garayev and resident Zangyushaly Magomedali Imanov were wounded by their neighbors.
The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20% of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts.
The two countries signed a ceasefire agreement in 1994. The co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group, Russia, France and the US, are currently holding peace negotiations.
Armenia has not yet implemented the UN Security Council's four resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts.
