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KARABAKH TO HOLD CONSTITUTIONAL REFERENDUM IN DECEMBER
By Ruzanna Khachatrian
Radio Liberty, Czech Rep.
June 7 2006
The leadership of Nagorno-Karabakh will hold a referendum next December
on its draft constitution that declares the Armenian-controlled
territory an "independent and sovereign state," a senior official in
Stepanakert said on Wednesday.
Rudik Hyusnunts, deputy speaker of the Karabakh parliament, told RFE/RL
that the decision was made on Monday at a meeting of a government
commission that has for years been working on the text of a first-ever
Karabakh constitution. The commission is headed by Arkady Ghukasian,
president of the self-proclaimed Nagorno-Karabakh Republic.
"The NKR president will sign a decree to hold a referendum on the
constitutional draft on December 10," said Hyusnunts.
The decree can be signed only after the NKR National Assembly debates
and endorses the commission's constitutional draft. According to
Hyusnunts, the assembly will receive the draft on June 15 and open
debates on it in September. The Karabakh parliament is dominated
by members of Ghukasian's Democratic Artsakh Party and its junior
coalition partner, the Azat Hayrenik Party.
Stepanakert's decision to effectively set a date for the referendum
came on the same day as the presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan
again failed to reach a framework peace agreement, all but dashing
hopes for a settlement of the Karabakh conflict in the near future.
Meeting in Bucharest on Sunday and Monday, Robert Kocharian and Ilham
Aliev apparently discussed a peace deal that would enable Karabakh's
predominantly Armenian population to determine the disputed region's
status in a future referendum.
Ghukasian and other Karabakh leaders have been less than enthusiastic
about this formula proposed by international mediators, saying that
the Karabakh Armenians had already voted to secede from Azerbaijan in
December 1991. The legitimacy of that referendum was never recognized
by Azerbaijan and the international community, however.
"On December 10 we will try to reaffirm the results of our independence
referendum," said Hyusnunts.
By Ruzanna Khachatrian
Radio Liberty, Czech Rep.
June 7 2006
The leadership of Nagorno-Karabakh will hold a referendum next December
on its draft constitution that declares the Armenian-controlled
territory an "independent and sovereign state," a senior official in
Stepanakert said on Wednesday.
Rudik Hyusnunts, deputy speaker of the Karabakh parliament, told RFE/RL
that the decision was made on Monday at a meeting of a government
commission that has for years been working on the text of a first-ever
Karabakh constitution. The commission is headed by Arkady Ghukasian,
president of the self-proclaimed Nagorno-Karabakh Republic.
"The NKR president will sign a decree to hold a referendum on the
constitutional draft on December 10," said Hyusnunts.
The decree can be signed only after the NKR National Assembly debates
and endorses the commission's constitutional draft. According to
Hyusnunts, the assembly will receive the draft on June 15 and open
debates on it in September. The Karabakh parliament is dominated
by members of Ghukasian's Democratic Artsakh Party and its junior
coalition partner, the Azat Hayrenik Party.
Stepanakert's decision to effectively set a date for the referendum
came on the same day as the presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan
again failed to reach a framework peace agreement, all but dashing
hopes for a settlement of the Karabakh conflict in the near future.
Meeting in Bucharest on Sunday and Monday, Robert Kocharian and Ilham
Aliev apparently discussed a peace deal that would enable Karabakh's
predominantly Armenian population to determine the disputed region's
status in a future referendum.
Ghukasian and other Karabakh leaders have been less than enthusiastic
about this formula proposed by international mediators, saying that
the Karabakh Armenians had already voted to secede from Azerbaijan in
December 1991. The legitimacy of that referendum was never recognized
by Azerbaijan and the international community, however.
"On December 10 we will try to reaffirm the results of our independence
referendum," said Hyusnunts.