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On May 25 Armen Rustamyan, Chairman of the NA Standing Committee on Foreign Relations received the French senators Philippe Marini, Sophie Joissains and Bernard Fournier.

The French senators said that they had gladly accepted the invitation to Nagorno Karabakh, visited and had very effective discussions with the NKR President, deputies and ministers, got familiarized with the NK people’s aspirations and the wonderful nature of that country. They recorded that they were pleasantly surprised by the firmness, consistency and especially warm reception of the Artsakh people.

“I hope that the response of Azerbaijan connected with your trip to Nagorno Karabakh has not disappointed you, “on the Azerbaijani black list, you, certainly, you will find good friends.” Mr Rustamyan said and then noticed with soft humour.

“It’s the same for us how Azerbaijan will respond to our visit,” Senator Philippe Marini responded with smile.

Mr Rustamyan touched upon the popular movement, which had begun in Nagorno Karabakh before the collapse of the Soviet state, presented the achievements of Karabakh self-determined by independence referendum in accordance with Soviet and international laws, the procedure of negotiations going on within the framework of the Minsk Group, the non-constructive stance of Azerbaijan on the settlement of the problem, the approaches of Turkey speaking with preconditions being unacceptable for Armenia.

In the course of the meeting issues regarding the peaceful settlement of the Nagorno Karabakh problem, the Armenian-Turkish relations, the Iranian problem connected with the nuclear programme, the regional security and other issues were also discussed.