YEREVAN (Noyan Tapan)–Senator Mitch McConnel (R-Ky.), who is a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, visited Nagorno-Karabakh Sunday.
During the visit McConnell met with Karabakh Acting President Leonard Petrossian and Foreign Minister Arkady Ghoukassian–who described to the high-ranking guest the social and economic situation in the Republic–as well as the position of the republic on the negotiation talks.
The sides exchanged views regarding ways and prospects for resolution of the problem–US role in the peacemaking process. Urgent humanitarian problems were also addressed during the meeting. The Karabakh leadership noted that when discussing the problem of returning of refugees to their homes–it was impossible to speak only about Azeri refugees–ignoring hundreds of thousands Armenian refugees.
In the second half of the day Senator McConnel visited Shushi where met with the Armenian refugees from different towns of Azerbaijan. Refugees raised the question of compensation for property which they left in Azerbaijan.
Refugees noted that the rights of refugees residing in Nagorno-Karabakh are–in fact–being infringed on the part of relevant UN agencies and other international organizations–which do not render humanitarian assistance to them since the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic is not a legally recognized state.
On the same day Senator McConnel and his delegation left for Yerevan.