YEREVAN, JUNE 27, ARMENPRESS. Armenia’s Parliament Speaker Ara Babloyan made a speech at the 2nd Eurasian meeting of Parliament Speakers in Seoul.

“Dear Mr. Chung,

Dear Mr. Volodin,

Dear colleagues,

Ladies and Gentlemen

“First of all, allow me to express my sincere gratitude to South Korea’s Parliament Speaker Chung Sye-kyun and Russian State Duma Chairman Vyacheslav Volodin for initiating this meeting.

We welcome your efforts of bringing together the leaders of the legislative branches of Eurasian countries to discuss the development of inter-parliamentary cooperation”, Babloyan said in his opening remarks.

The Armenian Parliament Speaker touched upon various issues of the Eurasian region in his speech, mentioning that the role of parliamentary diplomacy has significantly increased in international relations.

“Today, when the world faces serious challenges, dialogue and cooperation are important more than ever. We live in conditions of new crises and threats, we witness deepening separation lines. Instability in one region can have global scale consequences in conditions of globalization. Therefore, we must unite our efforts to ensure stability and peace”, Babloyan said.

The Parliament Speaker of Armenia mentioned that the country’s membership to the Eurasian Economic Union has significantly increased its economic and commercial capabilities.

“We greatly value the EEU’s cooperation with interested countries and key integration associations, which are ready for true cooperation”.
Mentioning that Armenia was granted the dialogue partner status by the Shanghai cooperation organization in 2016, Babloyan said that Armenia is greatly interested in China’s initiative of creating the Silk Road economic zone.

“This year, we are planning to sign the new legal basis of our relations with the European Union – the Comprehensive and Expanded Partnership Agreement”, Babloyan said.

“Dear colleagues,

The development of economic cooperation between states is only possible in a safe environment. But there are conflicting regions in Eurasia, where the restoration of sustainable peace requires tremendous efforts.

The peaceful settlement of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict remains one of the most important issues of our region. The only format for the settlement is the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chair group, having international mandate, which includes Russia, France and the United States.

According to the statements of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs, the conflict must be settled based on principles of international right, namely the right to self-determination, non-use of force or threat of force and territorial integrity, which the Co-Chairing countries present as one whole together with the elements of the conflict’s settlement.

The Co-Chair’s proposal also plans defining a final legal status of Nagorno Karabakh in the future: the expression of will of the NK people through a legally binding referendum.

Azerbaijan is consistently derailing the peaceful settlement process, refusing to recognize the self-determination right of the people of Nagorno Karabakh. In response to the Co-Chairing countries’ condemnation of use of force or threat of force, the Azerbaijani leadership is always declaring that international right is ineffective and the problem can be solved only through the use of force.  

Azerbaijan’s aggression against Artsakh in 2016 once again proved that the implementation of the self-determination right has no alternative.

Together with the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs, Armenia and Nagorno Karabakh have always proceeded in the direction of the peaceful settlement of the conflict. Taking this opportunity, I address my colleague, the Speaker of Azerbaijan’s Parliament to contribute to the peaceful settlement of the issue”, the Armenian Parliament Speaker said.

Babloyan also touched upon Armenia’s constitutional reforms and the recent parliamentary election.