International humanitarian law suffered defeat in Nagorno-Karabakh -  Alen Simonyan 

ArmInfo. There is a strong political will of the parties and public demand for further  development of effective cooperation between Armenia and the European  Union.  This was stated by the Chairman of the National Assembly of  the Republic of Armenia Alen Simonyan at the opening of the fourth  session of the Armenia-EU parliamentary partnership on February 25. 

According to him, Armenia expresses gratitude to all those political  forces represented in the European Parliament that monitor the  development of the situation in the region, study the challenges  faced by the republic, and pay attention to the signals from Yerevan.  The speaker also thanked the European parliamentarians for making  decisions and statements condemning the military actions launched by  Azerbaijan and leading to catastrophic consequences in  Nagorno-Karabakh, the forced displacement of over 100,000 Armenians  from this region, the seizure of part of the territory of Armenia,  human rights violations against Armenian prisoners, vandalism  committed by Azerbaijan against the Armenian cultural, historical and  religious heritage in Nagorno-Karabakh. "Unfortunately, all these  decisions and documents did not find the proper response and  international humanitarian law lost in Nagorno-Karabakh," the RA NA  Chairman said.

Simonyan added that Armenia has chosen the democratic path of  development, continuing the process of strengthening it on its own,  be it in the security or other areas. "We understand that this path  is full of challenges and risks, especially in the context of the  rapidly changing situation in the world. This forces us to make  thoughtful decisions, despite the complexity of their adoption," the  speaker emphasized. He noted that being at the crossroads of  civilizations, Armenia emphasizes the importance of normal  development of relations with its neighbors, striving to establish  relations based on the principles of partnership in the conditions of  open borders. The RA government, Simonyan continued, has put forward  the initiative of the "Crossroads of the World" project, which is  aimed at forming an effective use of transport and communication  routes in the region based on the principles of sovereignty of  states, equality, territorial integrity of states and reciprocity.  "We strive to implement a balanced policy with the states of the  region and power centers, which is based on the idea of diversifying  the areas of security, energy and other areas," Simonyan emphasized,  pointing to the expansion of cooperation with the countries of the  European Union.

The speaker expressed gratitude to the EU for providing substantial  assistance to Armenia, which is aimed at assisting the implementation  of reform programs by the RA government.

As Simonyan noted, this is evidenced by several important events that  have taken place recently. In particular, the process of negotiations  on visa liberalization has begun, Armenia has been included in the  mechanism of the European Peace Fund, and the EU has extended the  terms of the presence of the civilian observation mission, which has  led to a significant reduction in the number of incidents on the  country's borders and prevented the possibility of escalation of  violence in the region.

The RA NA Chairman recalled the draft law "On the beginning of the  process of Armenia's accession to the EU" adopted by the country's  parliament in the first reading, which is evidence of the desire of  the Armenian people to become part of the European civilization.