GHOUKASYAN’S MESSAGE TO PARTICIPANTS OF INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE TITLED "NAGORNO KARABAKH REPUBLIC: YESTERDAY, TODAY, TOMORROW"

DeFacto Agency, Armenia
June 21 2006

Dear friends,
I have apprehended the news on the conduct of the international
conference dedicated to the 15th Anniversary of the Nagorno Karabakh
Republic’s declaration with solid satisfaction. It again provides
ample evidence of our state’s existence.

Last fifteen years showed to the world that the Nagorno Karabakh people
are entitled to have the independent state of their own declared
pursuant to the former USSR’s legislation and the international
law’s basic rules. Although the NKR has not been recognized by the
international community yet, however, by the level of conformity to
the European society’s standards our Republic noticeably outstrips
Azerbaijan, which endeavored to dispose of the Nagorno Karabakh’s
Armenian population having enforced a war on us.

However, our nation has not only survived in an unequal sanguinary
armed confrontation, but it managed to mainly cure the war’s wounds,
stage an economic recovery, restore social sphere, inspire new life
to the region’s cultural and spiritual development.

An efficient army equipped with modern weaponry, which is the safest
guarantor of the security and prosperity of the Nagorno Karabakh
Republic and our nation, has been formed in the NKR.

At present Azerbaijan exerts efforts to reverse history, deprive our
nation of freedom and independence gained at the cost of irreplaceable
losses. It is an unpromising way. I am convinced: the future is the
talks between the NKR and Azerbaijan on the search for the ways of the
problem’s advantageous solution and the establishment of cooperation
between the two states.

One is eager to believe that our conference will promote deeper
comprehension of the realities of the region, which is difficult to
imagine without the Nagorno Karabakh Republic’s existence.

In this connection it is pleasant that you intend to discuss a wide
spectrum of issues referring both to the Nagorno Karabakh’s history and
culture, its spiritual heritage and to the legal aspects of the NKR’s
functioning, the outlooks of our country’s social-economic development.

I wish successful and fruitful work to the conference.

I wish you all the best, friends!

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress