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Armenian government doesn’t approve any bills recognizing Karabakh

The agenda of an extraordinary session of the Armenian parliament that the government had proposed to hold on May 10 doesn't include any discussion of the initiative on recognizing Nagorno-Karabakh

YEREVAN, May 5. /TASS/. The Armenian government approved no bill at the current stage on recognizing the independence of Nagorno-Karabakh and only made a conclusion on the legislative initiative of two opposition deputies, spokeswoman for Armenia’s premier Goar Pogosyan told TASS on Thursday.

A Cabinet meeting held on Thursday "approved the government’s conclusion on a bill on recognizing Nagorno-Karabakh," Pogosyan said.

"The document says that the adoption of a decision on recognizing Nagorno-Karabakh will be conditioned by the results of discussions between Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh, taking into account the further development of the situation, including by external factors," the spokeswoman said.

"Consequently, at the current stage, the government hasn’t approved a bill on recognizing Nagorno-Karabakh," Pogosyan said.

The spokeswoman also said that the agenda of an extraordinary session of the Armenian parliament, which the government had proposed to hold on May 10, didn’t include any discussion of the initiative on recognizing Nagorno-Karabakh.

The situation along the line of engagement of the conflicting parties in Nagorno-Karabakh deteriorated dramatically overnight to April 2. Following fierce armed clashes at the contact line, the parties to the conflict accused each other of violating the truce.

The conflict between neighboring Armenia and Azerbaijan over Nagorno-Karabakh, a disputed territory that had been part of Azerbaijan before the Soviet Union break-up but was mainly populated by Armenians, broke out in the late 1980s.

In 1991-1994, the confrontation spilled over into large-scale military action for control over the enclave and some adjacent territories. Thousands left their homes on both sides in a conflict that killed 30,000. About a million people became refugees. A truce was called between Armenia and the Nagorno-Karabakh republic on one side and Azerbaijan on the other in May 1994.