Armenian Revolutionary Federation

YEREVAN—The Armenian Revolutionary Federation- Dashnaktsutyun issued a statement Friday on the occasion of the 25th anniversary Artsakh’s Declaration of Independence. Below is the text of the announcement.

September 2 marks the 25th anniversary of the proclamation establishing the Nagorno (Mountainous) Karabakh Republic. These have been years of struggle, battles, heroism, creativity and achievements. These achievements would not have been possible without the unity and collective support of the Armenian nation.

Today, we stand together to bolster past successes and take on the new challenges set before us. At this crucial time, the most important of these are ensuring the favorable resolution of the Artsakh issue and the security of the Republic. Now is the opportune time to reaffirm, once again, the ARF-Dashnaktsutyun’s position in this regard:

1. Any accord on Artsakh must recognize its right to reunification with Armenia, or, at the very least, Artsakh’s independence.
2. The borders of Artsakh should be set based on the principle of historical rights and real –geographical and territorial– security guarantees for both Artsakh and Armenia.
3. The negotiation process should be led by the will of the the people of Artsakh as expressed by the nationwide 1991 Independence referendum and the 2006 NKR Constitution referendum.

Hence, the ARF Dashnaktsutyun:

• Continues to pursue the international recognition of NKR. The negotiation process cannot impede the recognition of NKR’s independence;
• Supports demands for NKR’s inclusion as a full-fledged party to the negotiations;
• Pursues the signing of a strategic alliance agreement between the Republics of Armenia and Nagorno Karabakh, as a guarantee to NKR’s security and independence;
• Considers unacceptable any resolution that does not primarily address the recognition of NKR’s independent status and the restoration of its territorial integrity;
• Opposes any “phased” option that ignores the above requirements, as well as any unilateral concessions made with the expectation of future solutions. Mutual concessions are possible only if they are commensurate, concurrent and within a package solution framework.
• Defends the necessity for the Republic of Armenia to enact recognition of NKR should the negotiation process fail or upon military aggression by Azerbaijan.
• Pursues the international condemnation of Azerbaijan’s campaign to violate or nullify the 1994-1995 trilateral ceasefire regime;
• Is convinced that the guarantors of the security of the Republics of Armenia and Nagorno Karabakh are first and foremost the armed forces of RoA and the NKR defense army. At the same time, it pursues effective international monitoring and control measures to maintain the ceasefire along the line of contact between Artsakh and Azerbaijan;
• Considers it imperative to harness the potential of all Armenians towards keeping the Artsakh conflict in the realm of a struggle for national liberation and self-determination. Also considers the design and implementation of pan-Armenian projects aimed at Artsakh’s population growth and socio-economic development to be of utmost importance.

ARMENIAN REVOLUTIONARY FEDERATION-DASHNAKTSUTYUN
2 September 2016