1 / 2

The Head of Armenia-Indonesia Friendship Group, the deputy of the National Assembly Hasmik Hakobyan was in Jakarta on August 5-8 to take part as an observer candidate for the first time in the 44^th Meeting at the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN PA), titled Responding Parliaments for Sustainable and Prosperous ASEAN. In her speech the deputy noted particularly:

“Mister President,

Excellences,

Colleagues,

Let me first express my gratitude to Indonesia as the current holder of ASEAN presidency and personally Speaker Puan Maharani and Madam Secretary General of ASEAN Inter-Parliamentary Assembly Siti Rozaimeriyanty, as well as to all member states for the opportunity to address today this audience. It's an honor to be here today as a Guest of the Host.

Armenia attaches great importance to further development and enhancement of mutually beneficial cooperation with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).

With the view to have the effective collaboration, this year the National Assembly of Armenia has also applied for observer status in ASEAN Inter-Parliamentary Assembly (AIPA).

These days, the world is at the crossroads of complex geopolitical events that may have irreversible consequences.

In this regard I would like to emphasize the importance of peace and stability and briefly present to you the situation in our own region of the South Caucasus.

Dear Colleagues,

In our region Armenia is engaged in talks with Azerbaijan discussing normalization of relations between our two countries, aimed at the establishment of sustainable peace in the region.

I want to emphasize that Armenia rejects the use of force or the threat of use of force and is trying to negotiate with the neighbors in good faith and having no territorial claims against neighbors.

However, this is a very difficult process, since Azerbaijan is unfortunately not showing signs of reciprocation. On the contrary, during the last years Azerbaijan has attacked the territory of Armenia several times and starting from December 2022 Azerbaijan has been illegally blocking the Lachin Corridor, which is the only life-route connecting Armenian-populated Nagorno-Karabakh with the rest of the world. The situation is rapidly worsening and 120.000 Armenians live in complete siege, facing a real threat of starvation and extermination. This action contradicts to the legally-binding orders of the UN International Court of Justice adopted on February 22 and July 6.

Nevertheless, Armenia is firmly committed to the goal of achieving peace in our region. We are convinced that durable peace is possible and it’s possible if the sides show willingness to address the root cause of the conflict and thus we see the solution in unblocking the Lachin Corridor immediately and addressing the issue of rights and security of the Armenian population of Nagorno-Karabakh through negotiations between its representatives and the Government of Azerbaijan through an international mechanism.

Ladies and gentlemen,

Armenia is also engaged in a normalization process with Türkiye. We are ready to achieve fully normalized relations with Turkiye without preconditions and without delay, and we hope that Turkiye will also show such willingness.

Dear Colleagues,

Once again, I would like to thank you for the invitation, and wish you productive discussions in the coming days. Thank you,” Hasmik Hakobyan concluded.