Supporting the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic means contributing to the final establishment of peace in the South Caucasus, French parliamentarians, members of the France-Karabakh friendship group say in an article published in Le Monde.
The MPs say that soon it will be 20 years since the ceasefire agreement was signed. There has appeared a new state between Armenia and Azerbaijan. The authors of the article emphasize that 20 years is a whole generation of Karabakh and Azeri people who should have lived in peace and whose indisputable rights should have been recognized, but, unfortunately, they are forced to live in instability because there is no peace though the war is over. Due to the lack of a document on mutual recognition and elementary direct dialogue between the conflicting parties, Azerbaijan and Nagorno-Karabakh are deprived of the opportunity to develop naturally and peacefully. The French parliamentarians stress the need to bring about peace, which first of all means that the real facts should be recognized and a transparent dialogue should be started in order to correct the previous mistakes.
The authors call for pragmatism because they are convinced that neither threats nor military actions will make Nagorno-Karabakh to return to the "lap" of Azerbaijan.
They also point out that over the past 20 years provocations have occurred on the Line of Contact almost every month, resulting in new deaths in Karabakh and estranging the parties from peaceful co-existence. The French parliamentarians stress that to recognize the NKR does not mean to become the enemy of Azerbaijan. They also think that it is a destructive approach to declare those visiting Artsakh as "personae non gratae" in Azerbaijan.
The authors also stress the need to set up a council to investigate the developments in Sumgait, Baku, Kirovabad and Maragha and to punish the culprits. They hope that their call will find an echo in the civil layers of Azerbaijan and that the new forces will be able to give up hatred and enmity and to start a dialogue. At that time, the France-Karabakh friendship group will be ready to provide its support, the article says.