As reported by the Artsakh Foreign Ministry, the announcement particularly says:
"On September 27, 2020. Azerbaijan re-ignited the Karabakh conflict, which had been frozen by an unstable ceasefire since 1994, launching a large-scale and unprecedented attack on the self-determined republic.
The Azerbaijani army, which included mercenaries serving in jihadist groups in Syria, caused a humanitarian crisis in Artsakh, which was accompanied by serious violations of international conventions on armed conflicts. Both the capital Stepanakert and the border communities were bombed.
Many civilians were killed and thousands of Artsakhis were deported.
At midnight on November 10, after 44 days of bloody fighting, the ceasefire agreement signed under the auspices of the Russian authorities, entered into force, fixing the positions of the parties to the conflict. Although the final provisions of this agreement are not at all satisfactory, they help at least save lives on both sides.
Territorial losses, however, can lead to an extremely bad situation in terms of the preservation of Artsakh's millennial heritage, hundreds of monasteries and churches of 4th, 8th or 10th centuries. In this regard, the fall of Shushi, Artsakh's second city, is fraught with the danger of depriving the people of Artsakh of their own historical memory, given all the unprecedented destruction that has taken place in the city, including the recently renovated Ghazanchetsots Church.
From now on, it is our duty not to hide behind cautious neutrality, which means approving the Azerbaijani aggression. We must reaffirm our full support for the friendly people, supporting the return of the Armenian people to their ancestral lands.
Since the declaration of its independence on September 2, 1991, which was enshrined by a referendum on self-determination on December 10, 1991, the Republic of Nagorno-Karabakh (Artsakh) has consistently guaranteed institutional stability for its own people on a never-before-challenged democratic basis - territorial integrity and defense, as well as economic and cultural prosperity,
Completing all the components of a state, recognized by international public law - territory, population, sovereignty, the Nagorno Karabakh Republic (Artsakh) must henceforth be considered as such a subject of law endowed with sovereignty, which legally embodies the people of Artsakh. The people united in the territory of the Artsakh state are radically connected with the land of their ancestors, with a common language, common history, inherited culture and religion.
Given these crucial elements, the independence of Artsakh seems to us more than ever legally strong, legally just. France, a superpower with a balanced policy, has thousands of years of friendly relations with Armenia and has been responsible for more than 100 years for the genocide that the Armenian people fell victim to in 1915. This friendship finds its expression in the relations that have existed for many years between our cities and regions, the communities of Armenia and Artsakh.
Therefore, we, the mayors and locally elected representatives who signed this call, recognizing the independence of the Artsakh Republic for the right of peoples to self-determination as the only effective way to ensure the security of its inhabitants and prevent ethnic cleansing still threatening Artsakh, call on the international community to take necessary measures.take the necessary measures in this direction".
