US Secretary of State Grants Artsakh Legitimate Right to Assert Sovereignty Over Territories Lost to Azerbaijan

The head of the Center for European Studies, Arthur Ghazinyan, considers the statement by US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo regarding Israel's occupation of the Golan Heights to be "unprecedentedly favorable" for the resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

“Mike Pompeo has made a statement that grants Artsakh a legitimate right to assert its sovereignty over the territories lost to Azerbaijan during the 1992-1994 war imposed on Artsakh. … It should be noted that a new reality has been established in international law, which aspires to become a source of international customary law,” Ghazinyan wrote on his Facebook page.

“According to this reality, if a state under direct aggression manages to seize internationally recognized territory from the aggressor state that is vital for its security, then the defending state acquires the legitimate right to demand and gain recognition of its sovereignty over that territory from the international community.

I believe that diplomats and experts from Armenia and Artsakh should use this precedent for the purpose of asserting Artsakh's sovereignty over the territories lost as a result of Azerbaijan's aggression. Especially since these territories are of utmost importance for protecting the right to life of the 150,000 peaceful residents of Artsakh,” he noted.