On September 28, 2023, Nagorno-Karabakh leader Samvel Shahramanyan signed a decree according to which all state institutions and organizations must be dissolved by January 1, 2024, and the Republic of Nagorno-Karabakh (Artsakh) ceases to exist. Before presenting legal and political evaluations in this regard, Radar Armenia presents the legal foundations of the creation of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic.

And so

• On December 1, 1989, at the joint session of the Supreme Council of the Armenian SSR and the National Council of Nagorno Karabakh in Yerevan, the decision "On the reunification of the Armenian SSR and Nagorno Karabakh" was adopted.

• On September 2, 1991, the Republic of Nagorno Karabakh was proclaimed based on the USSR Law "On the Procedure for Solving Issues Related to the Withdrawal of the Union Republic from the USSR."

• On December 10, 1991, a referendum was held in NKR, and 108,736 (82.2%) of 132,328 people who had the right to vote participated in the vote; 108,615 people (99.89% of voters) favored independence.

• On January 6, 1992, the NKR Supreme Council adopted the declaration of NKR state independence and declared Nagorno Karabakh an independent republic.

In this context, it is also important to note:

• On August 23, 1990, at the first session of the Supreme Council of the Armenian SSR, a declaration on the independence of Armenia was adopted, which is written in black and white. The Supreme Council of the Armenian SSR, expressing the united will of the people of Armenia, based on the 1989 joint decision of the Supreme Council of the Armenian SSR and the Nagorno-Karabakh National Council of December 1, "On the reunification of the Armenian SSR and Nagorno Karabakh," developing the democratic traditions of the independent Republic of Armenia established on May 28, 1918, setting the issue of creating a democratic, legal public order, declares the beginning of the process of establishing independent statehood.

• On July 8, 1992, the Supreme Council of the Republic of Armenia also adopted a decision by which any international or domestic document in which NKR will be mentioned as part of Azerbaijan is considered unacceptable for Armenia.

Returning to the decree signed by NKR President Samvel Shahramanyan, according to which the NKR will cease to exist on January 1, 2024, Radar Armenia presents the legal and political assessments of the fact. And so

•A specialist in international law, the lawyer Ara Ghazaryan, sees problems regarding the jurisdiction of the signed document but believes that constitutional law experts should assess it. According to him, the problem is that the president is a representative body, and the parliament and the body with the primary mandate have the right to express an opinion on behalf of the entire population, not the head of the executive power.

• President of the "Europe of Law" association, lawyer Lusine Hakobyan, referring to the constitution of Nagorno-Karabakh, the first article of which says: "The Republic of Artsakh is a sovereign, democratic, legal, social state," and article 163 states that 1-4 of the constitution Articles 2 and 163 are not subject to change, he noted. "This last article means that the Republic of Artsakh, as a state, cannot cease to exist, and even the people of Artsakh cannot make such a decision because the fact that the Republic of Artsakh is a sovereign, democratic, legal, and social state is one of the immutable articles of the constitution. Is ranked. The second article states that usurpation of power is a crime. The subject of investigation should be whether Shahramanyan, by signing such a decree, did not usurp the power," explains Hakobyan and adds that this decree has no legal force.

• According to Vahram Atanesyan, a public politician and former member of the Supreme Council of Armenia, the Republic of Nagorno-Karabakh was declared independent by the decision of the Supreme Council of the first conference on January 6, 1992, and if it could not exist in the current situation, such a decision could only be adopted The successor of NKR Central Committee is the National Assembly of the fifth conference, "I am not referring to the legal side of the problem; it is within the scope of constitutionalists' assessment. I can only emphasize that Samvel Shahramanyan was elected president by the decision of the National Assembly, so he is accountable to him."

• Tigran Abrahamyan, the secretary of RA NA's "Pativ Unem" faction, also says that no one can dissolve the Republics of Artsakh or Armenia through a decree or decision. "There is already a problem, and decree cannot dissolve the state. If we look at the topic from the point of view of whether it is possible to cancel that ridiculous decree to curb the Azerbaijani propaganda that is being carried out now, yes, there are ways, and it can be done that way. But to say that based on that decree, Artsakh was disintegrated or based on that decree Azerbaijan established control over the whole of Artsakh is absurd." The deputy notes that the incident took place under Azerbaijani pressure and blackmail, adding that two circumstances should be considered as the basis of this: the statement of the Armenian authorities about the intention to recognize Artsakh as a part of Azerbaijan, as well as the Azerbaijani military operations, which led to complete Azerbaijani control over Artsakh.

• In this context, remember that RA Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan took note of the proposal of the Russian peacekeeping troops about the ceasefire, which was accepted by the NK authorities, "We got acquainted with the text, and since RA did not participate in the formation of that text in any way and was not a party to the discussions, the first consideration is that the text talks about the withdrawal of the remaining units of the RA armed forces from Nagorno-Karabakh. This fact is not very understandable for us in the conditions when we have repeatedly said that since August 2021, RA does not have troops in Nagorno-Karabakh, but, in any case, we take note of this statement and its acceptance by the Nagorno-Karabakh authorities."

Hayk Magoyan