Karabakh made much more progress in terms of its constitutional development than Kosovo

PanARMENIAN.Net - Three members of the Independent American Monitoring Delegation spoke on Capital Hill September 19 on democracy building in the Nagorno Karabakh Republic, Artsakh. Vladimir Matic, Paul Williams and Meghan Stewart, all affiliated with the Washington-based Public International Law and Policy Group (PILPG), reiterated the main conclusion of their election monitoring report in which they assessed this summer's vote as "free and fair," the NKR representative office in the U.S. told PanARMENIAN.Net



In his opening remarks, Vardan Barseghian, the NKR Representative to the United States, thanked congressional friends for their outstanding leadership on issues impacting the people of Artsakh.



Speaking about Artsakh's democratic development, Rep. Barseghian said: "Just eighteen days after its referendum on independence in 1991, the Nagorno Karabakh Republic held its first democratic parliamentary elections. These elections marked the beginning of a difficult, complex but fruitful process of democratic state building amidst significant internal and external challenges."



Ambassador Vladimir Matic, a retired diplomat now teaching international relations at Clemson University, headed the group's mission to Artsakh. He said that Karabakh's conduct of the summer 2007 election is one of the "best examples" of democratic practices that they have ever observed having monitored elections in a dozen of other post-conflict areas. He also noted progress compared to past elections in Artsakh.



Paul Williams, a former State Department lawyer and currently a professor at the American University specializing in conflict resolution and post-conflict legal development, argued that "Karabakh has made much more progress in terms of its constitutional development" than Kosovo and urged the international community to take note of this progress.



Meghan Stewart discussed the details of their monitoring mission which included visiting nearly 50 polling sites in all of Karabakh's electoral districts and meeting with presidential candidates and civil society representatives.



The congressional briefing was spearheaded by the Co-Chairs of the Congressional Caucus on Armenian Issues, Joe Knollenberg (R-MI) and Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ), who wanted to provide an opportunity for Members of the U.S. Congress and their staff to hear about developments in Nagorno Karabakh.



"The United States Congress has championed economic aid to Nagorno Karabakh to assist with post-conflict rehabilitation of the region. We know that the U.S. assistance has helped alleviate the needs, but much more needs to be done," said Rep. Joe Knollenberg.



"Today, we were very pleased to hear from the American election observers that Nagorno Karabakh has also steadily progressed in democratic development. The United States should support Karabakh in this effort," echoed Rep. Frank Pallone.



NKR Rep. Barseghian thanked the two Co-Chairs of the Armenian Caucus for their staunch support of Artsakh. He also thanked the Armenian Assembly of America (AAA), the Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA) and the U.S.-Armenia Public Affairs Committee (USAPAC).



"We look forward to continue working with our American friends towards ensuring a more stable, secure and prosperous Caucasus, which also serves the U.S. strategic interests. An independent, democratic, prosperous and formally recognized Nagorno Karabakh Republic must be part of that picture," stressed Barseghian.