Armenian PM Pashinyan expects France to recognize Nagorno-Karabakh as sovereign, asks ‘international community’ to do the same
Armenian leader Nikol Pashinyan has called on the world to recognize the independence of Nagorno-Karabakh, subject of a decades-long feud between Yerevan and Baku. He believes Paris will be one of the first to do this.
“I expect the French president to recognize the independence of Nagorno-Karabakh,” the prime minister said, speaking to French network TV5Monde. “I do believe that there is simply no other way to address the concerns raised by Emmanuel Macron in the current situation.”
Along with US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin, French President Emmanuel Macron last week called for “an immediate cessation of hostilities between the relevant military forces.” Russia, the US, and France are joint chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group, tasked with ending the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict. Last week, Macron proposed the resumption of talks between Azerbaijan and Armenia, after speaking by phone with each country’s leader.
Also on rt.com Azerbaijan & Armenia at war: What you need to know about bloody conflict over long-disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh (MAP)On Wednesday, Pashinyan appeared on France-based news network Euronews, calling on all the world’s countries to acknowledge the region as an independent country, known to some locals as Artsakh.
“I think the international community in this situation should act decisively now and recognize the independence of Karabakh,” he said.
The dispute between Azerbaijan and Armenia is decades old, with both countries believing they have strong claims over Nagorno-Karabakh. The region is internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan, but is primarily populated by ethnic Armenians. Baku considers the enclave to be illegally occupied by Armenia. Fighting between Azerbaijani and Armenian-backed forces flared up on September 27, with each side accusing the other of restarting the conflict.
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