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On April 11, during the visit to Artsakh the member of the Hellenic Parliament Garyfallia Kanelli and the Head of Latvia-Armenia Parliamentary Friendship Group Sergejs Potapkins were accompanied by the RA NA Deputy Speaker Eduard Sharmazanov, the RA NA deputy Gagik Melikyan and the RA Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary in the Hellenic Republic Gagik Ghalachian.

The Speaker of the NKR National Assembly Ashot Ghulyan received the European MPs, the NKR NA Deputy Speaker Vahram Balayan and the Chairman of the Standing Committee on Foreign Relations of the Parliament Arzik Mkhitaryan also took part in the meeting.

Welcoming the guests, Ashot Ghulyan highly assessed the visit of the parliamentarians of Greece and Latvia to Artsakh during these very days, underlining that they were the first foreign MPs, who visited Artsakh after the large-scale military operations initiated by Azerbaijan on the Karabakh-Azerbaijani border at the beginning of April.

Touching upon the situation in the frontline the Head of the Artsakh Parliament noted: “The large-scale aggression initiated by Azerbaijan on April 2-5 has not changed our position in any way, on the contrary it has more confirmed our goal to strengthen the independent, self-sovereign and democratic state.”

The RA NA Deputy Speaker Eduard Sharmazanov noted that this short-term war once more confirmed the Artsakh people’s and the whole Armenians’ resoluteness to defend the Artsakh people’s just struggle for freedom and independence.

The Hellenic Parliament MP Garyfallia Kanelli, qualifying their visit as a parliamentarian’s visit, considered what happened at the beginning of April not only to be a crisis in the sphere of human rights, but also in the world. In her word she noted that they would do their best in order the lives never be sacrificed for other’s interests.

The Member of the Latvian Saeima Sergejs Potapkins in his word highlighted the fact that the Artsakh people are not alone and have co-thinkers in Europe: they came to Artsakh to personally see the real situation, to communicate with the citizens and assure them that they support Nagorno Karabakh. The MP assured that they would do their best to solve the problem through peaceful means.

During the exchange of thoughts the Head of the NKR Parliament presented the history of the Artsakh liberation struggle to the European parliamentarians and answered their questions related to the process of the NKR international recognition and the provision of the Artsakh people’s security.

On April 11, the member of the Hellenic Parliament Garyfallia Kanelli and the Head of Latvia-Armenia Parliamentary Friendship Group Sergejs Potapkins were accompanied by the RA NA Deputy Speaker Eduard Sharmazanov met with the NKR President Bako Sahakyan. The NKR NA Deputy Speaker Vahram Balayan, the RA Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary in the Hellenic Republic Gagik Ghalachian and other officials took part in the meeting.

In the course of the meeting issues regarding the large-scale military operations unleashed recently against the Republic of Artsakh by Azerbaijan were touched upon.

Bako Sahakyan highly assessed the support of the representatives of different countries, their political and public circles to the peaceful settlement process of the problem and the condemnation of the aggression, considering it manifestation of principality and humanity.

At the same time the NKR President noted that the international community should give tough and targeted assessment to Azerbaijan’s bellicose and destructive policy, underlining that its availability and adequacy play an important role in restraining of aggression.