H1 Has Long Stopped Using the Word ‘Republic’, Replacing Artsakh with Nagorno-Karabakh: Artsakh Ombudsman

During the news broadcast of Armenia's public television, only the term Nagorno-Karabakh is used, which genuinely raises some concern, as the term Artsakh was consistently used until recently. This was stated by the Ombudsman of Artsakh, Gegham Stepanyan, on his Facebook page.

He also noted: “The people of Artsakh, of course, do not reject the term Nagorno-Karabakh; moreover, according to the Constitution of the Republic of Artsakh, the names Republic of Artsakh and Republic of Nagorno-Karabakh are identical. Nevertheless, the Armenian Public Television has long stopped using the word republic, and now surprisingly, it has replaced Artsakh with Nagorno-Karabakh. Meanwhile, for instance, media outlets such as Radio Free Europe and Sputnik Armenia, which are part of an international news group, continue to use the term Artsakh.”

If the issue is about making it more understandable for international actors, then first, I believe the name Artsakh has already become recognizable and comprehensible to interested actors, and second, is it not possible to at least use both names in parallel: Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh)? Often, representatives of the international media use the term Artsakh alongside Nagorno-Karabakh to show respect towards the locals, as international law does not consider place names and geographical labels to be the property of states, but rather views them as the intangible heritage of peoples.