NKR President Bako Sahakyan during a working visit to the UK.
President Bako Sahakyan of the Nagorno Karabakh Republic, during a working visit to the United Kingdom, delivered a speech at the prestigious Royal Institute of International Affairs Chatham House.
In his speech, which was followed by a question and answer session, Sahakyan spoke about state-building, domestic and foreign policy of NKR, the Azerbaijani-Karabakh conflict and regional developments.
According to the President’s press office, Sahakyan noted that “Chatham House’s mission to help build a sustainably secure, prosperous and just world was very much congenial to Artsakh, adding that those ideas were also part and parcel of our world vision.”
Bako Sahakyan went on to say that such meetings were useful both for NKR and different states and international structures.
Among the audience members at Chatham House were foreign diplomats, scientists and analysts.
The NKR’s working visit to the United Kingdom kicked off on July 6. While in London, he met with representatives of the Armenian community and discussed issues related to deepening ties and cooperation between Artsakh and the community. On the same day, he paid a visit to St. Yeghishe Armenian Apostolic Church.
Bako Sahakyan’s visit to Great Britain aroused the anger of Azerbaijani authorities. UK’s ambassador to Azerbaijan Irfan Siddiq was called to the country’s foreign ministry for a meeting and presented with a protest note after news emerged that President Sahakyan would be speaking at Chatham House.
According to commonspace.eu, Azerbaijan’s ambassador to London had said that Baku had received assurances from the UK government that Sahakyan’s visit was a private one and that London’s position “on the Karabakh conflict and the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan remained unchanged.”
