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On October 13, Gegham Manukyan, a member of the RA NA delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation (PABSEC), representative of the Armenia Faction, participated in the 59^th remote meeting of the Cultural, Educational and Social Affairs Committee of the PABSEC.

During the discussion of the report “The social consequences of the crisis caused by the flow of refugees in the BSEC Member States”, Gegham Manukyan demanded to restore the paragraph related to the Armenian refuges of Nagorno-Karabakh proposed by the Republic of Armenia in its draft, which the author of the report, a member of the Azerbaijani delegation, had removed at the suggestion of Turkey. During the intense debate between the Armenian and Azerbaijani MPs, Gegham Manukyan raised both the facts of the Azerbaijani occupation as a result of the 44-day war, and also spoke about thousands of internally displaced persons in the RA territory due to the aggression in September, 2022, as well as the confiscation of the RA sovereign territories.

The deputy of the National Assembly sharply opposed the assertion of the Azerbaijani side that the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and the issue of self-determination of the Artsakh-Armenians no longer exist, and it is not discussed during the Pashinyan-Aliyev meetings. Gegham Manukyan stressed that the issue of self-determination of the people of Artsakh remains on the agenda and is not covered. He explained that the recently circulated the Alma-Ata Declaration signed on December 8, 1991 was ratified by the Supreme Council of the Republic of Armenia with reservation, and stated that the territorial integrity does not refer to giving up the right of nations to self-determination. Azerbaijan joined the Alma-Ata Declaration when the Republic of Nagorno-Karabakh was already declared,” the NA deputy Gegham Manukyan stated.

The Armenian side voted against the report and is going to present the controversial paragraph again for discussion at the plenary meeting of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation to be held in December.