The delegation led by RA NA Speaker Alen Simonyan, who is on a working visit to the Federal Republic of Germany, had a meeting discussion with the management staff of the Friedrich Naumann Foundation and invited MPs, politicians, and public figures.
The meeting started with a welcome speech by the head of the international department of the foundation, René Claf, with which he emphasized the foundation’s work with Armenia, mentioning the satisfactory results obtained in the direction of democracy. Following that, the RA NA Speaker’s speech was dedicated to preserving democratic values and the necessary steps toward human rights and freedoms. Addressing the audience, Alen Simonyan said that Armenia, being a bearer of democratic values, believes that freedom and responsibility are the prerequisites of an open and democratic society.
“We, the parliamentarians, the bearers of free speech, are also part of the democratic society. In the modern world, parliamentary diplomacy is an integral part of foreign policy. Its role in developing interstate relations is also great,” he noted, adding that our country supports the values adopted by the foundation: personal, choice, economic freedom, and the rule of law.
Speaking about the mission undertaken by Armenia after the Velvet Revolution in Armenia in 2018, the Speaker of the National Assembly noted that the Armenian authorities want to change the quality of relations in a region in an environment where it is no longer safe for us. Alen Simonyan detailed some important episodes related to the 44-day war and the events that followed it, emphasizing the presence of destructive developments around Armenia and Artsakh Armenians.
The Speaker of the National Assembly reminded that the right of the Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh to live by their own identity was constantly violated by Soviet and independent Azerbaijan and continues to be disrespected with significant momentum to this day.
“Since December 12, 2022, Azerbaijan has closed the only road connecting Nagorno-Karabakh with Armenia and the outside world, the Lachin Corridor, resulting in 120,000 residents have been effectively blockaded. This action of Azerbaijan is a gross violation of the obligations assumed by the tripartite declaration of November 9, 2020, which is part of the large-scale and systematic policy of Azerbaijan aimed at the ethnic cleansing of the people of Nagorno-Karabakh,” said Alen Simonyan, emphasizing that even the legally binding decision of the International Court of Justice, Azerbaijan does not obey. On March 5, an Azerbaijani subversive group killed three citizens in Nagorno Karabakh. He noted that hours before the discussion of the Nauman Foundation, Azerbaijanis opened fire on Armenians engaged in agricultural work.
The head of the parliament thanked the German government for supporting the decision to deploy a long-term monitoring mission of the EU in Armenia. Concluding the speech, he assured that Armenia is advancing the agenda of opening an era of peace in the region.
The RA NA Speaker’s speech was followed by the questions of the participants, which mainly related to the security and stability of the region, the international community’s assessment and support of Armenia and Artsakh Armenians, Armenia-Diaspora relations, and the attitude of the Armenian society to the government-opposition relations and the interest shown in local self-government elections. The German partners were particularly interested in the progress of the Armenian reforms and the popular sentiments regarding their tangibility.
At the end of the meeting, the fund’s management team reaffirmed its readiness to support Armenia, which has a young but stable democracy.
