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On February 22, the Chairman of the ARF Supreme Body of Armenia, the RA NA Vice-speaker Ishkhan Saghatelyan received the Head of the European Parliament Delegation to the South Caucasus Marina Kaljurand and the Member of the European Parliament Juozas Olekas. The ARF members, the RA NA MPs Artsvik Minasyan, Artur Khachatryan, Kristine Vardanyan, and Projects manager of ARF Bureau’s International Secretariat Gevorg Ghukasyan participated in the meeting.

Ishkhan Saghatelyan presented the ARF positions on the situation around the Karabakh conflict, noting that the conflict is not resolved and the final solution is possible only within the framework of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairmanship.

The NA Vice-speaker also referred to the ongoing encroachments by Azerbaijan on the RA sovereign territory and thanked Mrs. Kaljurand for her joint statement on 21 February 2021 and her speech on 22 February 2022. Mrs. Kaljurand emphasized the need for a comprehensive settlement of the conflict, which should be achieved within the framework of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairmanship, on the basis of the principles of territorial integrity, non-use of force, self-determination and equal rights of peoples. The European partners reaffirmed their constructive and balanced positions.

The ARF representatives expressed their concern over the democratic regression in Armenia.

The implementation of further steps and actions for the qualitative development of the relations between the ARF Dashnaktsutyun and the Group of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats in the European Parliament (S&D) was especially discussed.

The ARF is the only Armenian Party that is an observer member of the Party of European Socialists (PES). The ARF representatives referred to the memorandum of cooperation that the ARF Parliamentary Faction previously had with the Group of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats in the European Parliament.