Parliament Vice Speaker: Everyone in the world must understand that all the countries are similar with their goals but conflicts have peculiarities

• Friday, July 20, 09:43

Official Yerevan has repeatedly stated that Nagorno Karabakh conflict must be resolved within OSCE MG. Any other mediation mission may negative affect the resolution process, Eduard Sharmazanov, Vice Speaker of the Armenian Parliament, told ArmInfo when commenting on the statements by the NATO and EU leaderships on the presidential election in NKR. Sharmazanov called it inadmissible applying dual standards with regards to the country that are on the way to self-determination. Everyone in the world must understand that all the countries are similar with their goals but conflicts in countries have peculiarities. One should not recognize independence of other countries and ignore the Karabakh people's right. Independence of NKR is not a subject for discussion. In compliance with the principle of the peoples' right to self-determination stipulated by the UN Statute this principle is UN's goal, while inviolability of borders is just a principle. Goals must prevail over principles and no the vice versa, Sharmazanov said. In addition, he said, if everything were in line with the principle of inviolability of borders, after the World War II there would be just 58 countries in the world and not over 200 countries as it is now. To recall, "NATO, like other international organizations, doesn't recognize so-called "presidential elections" held in Nagorno Karabakh", NATO Secretary General's Special Representative for the Caucasus and Central Asia James Appathurai exclusively told APA. In turn, the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Catherine Ashton issued a statement on the presidential election in the Nagorno Karabakh Republic that kicked off today on July 19. "I would like to reiterate that the European Union does not recognize the constitutional and legal framework in which they will be held," she said. By preliminary data, the incumbent president of the Nagorno Karabakh Republic Bako Sahakyan won the election. The NKR CEC has received ballots from all the 273 polling stations located in the country. By preliminary data, Bako Sahakyan received 47,085 votes, which is 66.7% of total. The second goes Vitaly Balasanyan, non-party parliamentarian, national hero of NKR, with 22,966 votes or 32.5% of total. The third candidate for president Arkady Soghomonyan, pro-rector of the Stepanakert branch of Armenia's Agrarian University, received just 594 votes or 0,8% of total. The voter turnover was 72,833 people or 73.38% out of 99,190 registered voters.