The leaders of the five factions of the Artsakh Parliament jointly worked on a draft law “On the Occupied Territories of Artsakh” and will present the legislation on Wednesday, Metakse Hakobyan, a member of the Justice faction of the Artsakh National Assembly, told NEWS.am.
“The main idea of the project is that no international organization or company has the right to take any action in the occupied territories of our homeland without the agreement of the Armenian side, and in case of any problems in the future these companies will not have the right to demand compensation or reimbursement from us [Artsakh] if they have not coordinated their actions with us beforehand,” she explained.
“The second point is that our enemy-occupied territories are not only the regions occupied in 2020. This also refers to the Shahumian region, which was left under Azerbaijani control after the first Artsakh war, as well as the villages of Martuni and Martakert,” she added.
Hakobyan said that 30 years ago the people of Artsakh excessed their right to self-determination and proclaimed Artsakh a free and independent state, according to provisions of international law.
Artsakh’s former human rights defender Ruben Melikyan welcomed the introduction of the measurets Ombudsman, and co-founder of the “Legal Path” NGO of Armenia, considers the drafting of the Artsakh National Assembly (NA) factions’ bill “On the Occupied Territories of Artsakh” as welcome and important.
“This is a welcome development,” said Melikyan, who is also the co-founder of the “Legal Path” organization in Armenia. “If the first Armenian state [Armenia] seems to have washed its hands of issues related to Artsakh, then the second Armenian state [Artsakh] should at least attempt to take certain steps,” Melikyan told NEWS.am.
He explained that the proposed legislation has both legal and political components. On the political front, Melikyan said, the legislation announces to the international community that Artsakh does not reconcile with the results of the the 2020 war and it considers that the actions taken were illegal, which stipulates that the constitutional territories of the Artsakh Republic must be returned.
The legal aspect of the measure can be deemed a starting point for the residents of those territories, from a human rights perspective.
Melikyan said the legislative effort is an important political initiative for setting future policy objectives and inform the international community that Artsakh considers the territories to be occupied.
“This in itself has important significance in terms of the future negotiation process,” he added.