Freedom House NGO report, calling Nagorno Karabakh a “partly free” country won't affect settlement talks, seeing as the previous “not free” assessment of NKR didn't prevent the U.S. from mediating the conflict, Artsakh Prime Minister said.

“NKR's “partly free” advancement was mainly triggered by the competitive presidential elections held in July 2012. Still, I believe, evaluations by NGOs play no significant role in other countries' political stance,” Ara Harutyunyan said.

The Prime Minister, however, disagrees with Freedom House assessment, confident that Karabakh is a free country, Karabakh-open.info said.