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On October 29 RA NA President Hovik Abrahamyan received the deputies of the European Parliament Michele Rivazi and Damien Abad.

Emphasizing the cognitive visit of the deputies of the European Parliament to Armenia and Nagorno Karabakh the NA President Hovik Ahrahamyan noted that in the European and international structures lack of exact information on Armenia and NK problem was felt and in this respect such visits became more important, as they gave opportunity to immediately get familiarized with the reality, the ongoing developments, to get objective information, which will promote showing unbiased approach.

The NA President documented that his visit to the European Parliament in June was very effective. Hovik Abrahamyan stressed that the European direction and the rapprochement with the European Union was one of the priorities of the foreign and home policy. At the guests’ request the NA President in detail presented the history of the Karabakh problem and the process of the settlement. He once again stressed that Armenia saw the settlement of the problem only within the OSCE Minsk Group based on the nations’ self-determination, territorial integrity and the principles on the non-use of force. Hovik Abrahamyan considered very concerning the fact the ceasefire was frequently violated, which became a reason for casualties and did not promote in any way the regional security and the establishment of peace. He recorded with regret that the international community did not give adequate assessment to such work style of Azerbaijan.

The deputies of the European Parliament Michele Rivazi and Damien Abad stressed that it was very important for them their visit to Armenia and NKR, as they had a picture on the regional situation on the spot. They considered unacceptable the efforts of isolating Armenia from the regional programmes, which impeded the regional comprehensive development, as well as highlighted the energy security of Armenia. Being impressed by their visit of Nagorno Karabakh Mr. Abad said: “I was shocked that there were people living in Karabakh that there were state structures and democratic institutes functioning.”

In the opinion of the deputies of the European Parliament, such visits are very important for getting familiarized with the Artsakh problem more closely, as many deputies of the European Parliament have no picture on the problems of the Caucasus region. In this aspect they considered desirable the visit of the NKR NA President to the European Parliament.

During the meeting the sides touched upon the Armenian-Turkish relations, European Parliament-RA NA cooperation perspectives and other issues of bilateral importance.