The Karabakh parliament made the offer in a weekend statement issued on the 22nd anniversary of a referendum on the region’s secession from Azerbaijan which it said reaffirmed the Karabakh Armenians’ “will to have an independent state.”
“Taking into account the intensity of the steps taken by the parties interested in the final closure of the Artsakh issue and the aggressive behavior of the parties interested in it, the National Assembly reaffirms its commitment to stand up for the rights of the people of Artsakh and expresses its readiness to discuss all contentious issues with the interested parties,” it said.
Although the statement did not name those parties, it seemed primarily addressed to the Armenian government.
“All those individuals who do not want Artsakh’s state institutions to operate stand for the destruction of the Artsakh statehood,” said Davit Galstian, the leader of the Artarutyun (Justice) bloc represented in the Karabakh legislature. But he too did not name names.
Political allies of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian have said in recent weeks that Karabakh government bodies should be dissolved following the recent restoration of Azerbaijani control over the territory and the resulting exodus of its ethnic Armenian population.
Armenian parliament speaker Alen Simonian declared on November 16 that their continued activities would pose a “direct threat to Armenia’s security.” Gevorg Papoyan, a deputy chairman of Pashinian’s Civil Contract party, on Monday echoed that warning condemned by the Armenian opposition.
“This is would be a bomb planted under the Republic of Armenia,” Papoyan told journalists. He also pointed to Karabakh President Samvel Shahramanian’s September 28 decree which said that the self-proclaimed Nagorno-Karabakh Republic, set up in September 1991, will cease to exist on January 1.
Shahramanian implied in October that the decree is null and void. He said he was forced to sign it in order to stop the hostilities and enable the Karabakh Armenians to safely flee their homeland.
The Karabakh parliament’s statement likewise said that Shahramanian’s decision forced by Baku helped to prevent a “genocide.”
Pashinian’s government stopped championing the Karabakh Armenians’ right to self-determination in April 2022. A year later, Pashinian declared that it recognizes Karabakh as a part of Azerbaijan. Armenian opposition leaders say that this policy change paved the way for Azerbaijan’s September 19-20 military offensive in Karabakh.
Simonian said later in November that a peace treaty currently discussed by Baku and Yerevan should not contain any special provisions on Karabakh and the return of its ethnic Armenian residents.