President of Nagornyy Karabakh [NKR] says “strong” army guarantees peace

Artsakh State TV, Stepanakert
4 Apr 05

Text of report by Nagornyy Karabakh’s Artsakh Public TV on 4 April

On 4 April the president of Nagornyy Karabakh [NKR] visited Martakert
Region. In the town of Martakert, Arkadiy Gukasyan met local
residents and officials. President Gukasyan talked about problems in
the region, stressed that the authorities would do everything
possible to solve the most important issues in the region and also
talked about recent developments in the Nagornyy Karabakh conflict
settlement. After meetings in Martakert, the president visited the
front line and presented bravery awards to soldiers and officers who
had shown honour on the field of battle during the latest Azerbaijani
attempts to forward their positions.

In an interview to Artsakh Public TV, the president said the
following: [Gukasyan] Our army is the best guarantee of our security.
To secure peace we must have a strong army. I am proud to have such a
strong army. I would like to assure our people that there is no
threat to our republic because our army is strong.

As to the growing Azerbaijani military rhetoric, the NKR president
said that Azerbaijan pursues two main goals. The first one is to
convince its own population that the authorities are very active in
their attempts to return the lost territories.

The second and the most important reason is to blackmail the
international community and to demand the restoration of its
territorial integrity. Azerbaijan will gain nothing from launching a
military campaign against Nagornyy Karabakh. I think that the
Azerbaijani authorities realize that the Nagornyy Karabakh army
cannot be beaten by them. However, one has to be prepared for war in
order to avoid it.

[Video showed the president talking to people, meeting members of
regional administration, and awarding medals]