Minister Karen Mirzoyan at the annual press conference (Source: Armenpress)
STEPANAKERT (Armenpress)— On December 25, Karabakh’s Foreign Minister Karen Mirzoyan held a press conference where he discussed the foreign affairs of Artsakh mentioning that the Azerbaijani-Karabakh conflict was a top priority for 2016.
Mirzoyan briefed on the 2015 foreign policy activities aimed at the international recognition of the independence of Artsakh, the peaceful settlement of the Azerbaijani-Karabakh conflict, guaranteeing external favorable conditions for the development of Artsakh, enhancing cooperation with various countries at all possible levels, ensuring Artsakh’s involvement in international processes, and implementing initiatives in line with the interests of Artsakh in the international arena.
The process of expanding ties and establishing relations between different foreign countries and Artsakh through decentralized cooperation was discussed as well. In the previous year, Artsakh had not expanded on their relations with foreign communities and their relations with foreign nations remained stagnant. The Minister stated that he wanted to see more events like the festival ‘French Days in Artsakh’ organized in the Nagorno Karabakh Republic in the fall of 2015, where over 200 guests from France, representing the twin cities took part.
While referring to the process of peaceful settlement of the Azerbaijani-Karabakh conflict, the Foreign Minister noted that Azerbaijan`s policy was a blatant disregard for the efforts of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-chairs and a challenge to the international community. In this context, Mirzoyan stressed great importance to the immediate development and implementation of investigation mechanisms of the incidents on the line of contact between the armed forces of Nagorno Karabakh and Azerbaijan. Once this development has been made, it would disclose the real violator of the ceasefire, specifically Azerbaijan, and avoid untargeted appeals to the parties to the conflict.
The Karabakh Minister emphasized the significant work implemented by Karabakh’s Foreign Minitry and Permanent Representatives and how both were consistent in carrying out activities aimed at disseminating objective and reliable information about the Republic of Artsakh.
While briefly discussing the goals of 2016, Mirzoyan added that the peaceful settlement of Azerbaijani-Karabakh conflict and the international recognition of Karabakh would remain the top focus of Artsakh’s authorities.
At the end of the press conference, certificates of appreciation were handed to representatives of some mass media for the effective coverage of the Artsakh`s foreign policy agenda and the activities of Karabakh’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Mirzoyan also answered questions of media representatives received by E-mail.
Source: Asbarez
Link: Karabakh Conflict Top Focus for 2016, says Artsakh Foreign Minister