ARKADIY GHUKASSYAN: I UNDOUBTEDLY BELIEVE IN NKR INTERNATIONAL RECOGNITION

Stepanakert, August 31. ArmInfo. In view of 15th anniversary of
Nagorno-Karabakh Republic’s formation, NKR President Arkadiy Ghukassyan
answered the questions of electronic site of "Azat Artsakh" Republican
newspaper. Several hundred questions from Karabakh, Armenia, Russia,
USA, Azerbaijan and other countries, concerning different spheres,
entered the editorial office.

As the ArmInfo own correspondent in Stepanakert informs, asked "Do you
believe in International recognition of Nagorno Karabakh Republic?",
A. Ghukassyan answered: "Undoubtedly. When our people had declared,
at the referendum, for NKR independence 15 years ago, it thought first
of all about its future and not about the possible response of the
International community. NKR, independent from Azerbaijan, is not a
self-purpose but the only condition of the Karabakh people existence
on the land of its ancestors, of its development and prosperity. We
clearly understood that the International recognition of NKR is a
long and extremely difficult way. But, finally, all depends on us,
on our will, patience, and ability to overcome difficulties and
our readiness to build a legal state. The Nagorno Karabakh Republic
is de-facto formed and this is recognized by many in the world. We
could defend our independence in the war, moreover, we overcame its
consequences for a relatively short historical period of time and
built a state which left Azerbaijan behind it by many parameters,
including the level of democratization of the political-social life".

Asked "If you and the military-political authorities intend to hand
over the territories of the so-called security zone without NKR
independence recognition?", the President answered: "We shall never
agree with such settlement which can prejudice the Karabakh security,
not to mention the independence from Azerbaijan. I am sure the attempt
to solve any issues, including that of the security zone around NKR,
is a way to war. We have no closed subjects, however, it does not mean
we are ready for one-sided concessions. The degree of our concessions
depends on the degree of Azerbaijan ‘s concessions".

Asked "How would you comment the recent expression of OSCE MG
American Co-chairman, Mathew Bryza, saying that the participation
or non-participation of Nagorno Karabakh in the negotiation process
depends on the will of Armenia and Azerbaijan?", A. Ghukassyan
answered: "Only Azerbaijan stands against NKR participation in
negotiations as a conflict party. Baku prefers to deal with Yerevan in
order to transform the problem of NKR people self-determination into a
plane of territorial claims of Armenia to Azerbaijan. Unfortunately,
the International mediators made concessions to Azerbaijan for the
peaceful process maintenance. But I am sure this concession has a
temporary character. In the documents of Budapest (December, 1994)
Summit of SCCE, the Karabakh side is actually recognized as a conflict
side. Moreover, there are questions which cannot be solved without
our participation. And their number is not less. This circumstance is
fully realized by all the MG Co-chairmen. By the way, when Azerbaijan
had ever turned out in a difficult situation during the war, Baku had
directly contacted with Stepanakert. We have a rather considerable
portfolio of corresponding documents".

Asked by Azeri citizen Akhmedov: "Mr. Ghukassyan, is there actually
any single Armenian in the world who really believes that Azerbaijan
will ever give in Karabakh? Do you in Stepanakert actually want
war? The Azeri army is not the way it was in 1992," Ghukassyan said:
"I will answer in your style: is there actually any single Azeri in
the world who really believes that the Karabakh Armenians will ever
agree to submit to Baku? Do you in Azerbaijan want war?

The Karabakh army is by far not the way it was in 1992. War is not
a solution. Unfortunately, you, Mr. Akhmedov, is a typical victim to
the Azeri propaganda, who denies the right of the Karabakh people to
self-determination – the right that is recognized by the international
mediators: the OSCE MG co-chairs – the biggest world powers – the
US, Russia and France. We should look for reasonable compromises,
while hope for military budget, hope for revenge is a bad, suicidal
hope. Azerbaijan has always been several times stronger than Karabakh
in personnel and hardware, but you all know the results of the previous
war. I think that the Azeri authorities should stop misleading their
people and start natural direct contacts with Stepanakert. We can
really solve many problems if we sit down at the negotiating table.

Asked by Seidova from Ganca (Azerbaijan): "Mr. Ghukassyan, the world
will never recognize the independence of the so-called Nagorno-Karabakh
Republic.

Sooner or later, Azerbaijan will get Karabakh back. Isn’t it better
for you to agree to this at once? You will not deny that the unsettled
Karabakh problem hinders the economic development of Armenia, will
you?," Ghukassyan said: "Dear Ms. Seidova, the Karabakh Armenians have
chosen independence for fully exercising their rights and freedoms
which were grossly violated by the Azeri authorities. Time has shown
that we were right and we have chosen the right way.

Look, what an attitude the authorities of your country are showing
to the Karabakh Armenians today. They are threatening to finish us
off if we refuse to join Azerbaijan. Is this serous? Do civilized
leaders use threats and blackmails when urging their neighbors
to co-exist? The Karabakh people does not hate the Azeri people,
while in your country the situation is opposite. In Azerbaijan the
authorities are actively cultivating hatred towards Armenians. One
proof: you in Azerbaijan present the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict as
Armenian-Azeri conflict. If you happened to wish to visit Nagorny
Karabakh you would see that there is such more freedom of speech and
democracy here than in your country. Unlike Azerbaijan, we are not
forced by anybody in the world to comply with democracy norms or to
hold elections in conformity with the European standards. But despite
everything, despite the protests of your authorities, we persist
in democratizing our society even though the Baku authorities are
constantly threatening us with new war. We are doing this, first of
all, because we need democracy. I assure you that people in the world
perfectly know about progress in Karabakh. No coincidence that the
army of our friends is growing every year. As regards the prospect
of our international recognition, unlike you, I have higher opinion
of the international community. Please, don’t worry for Armenia, you
better think about the abyss your own authorities are leading you to.

To the question of Hakopyan from Tbilisi: "From his very first days
in power of Azeri President Ilham Aliyev has been daily saying that
his country will be able to solve the Karabakh problem by force. Do
you think this scenario possible?," Ghukassyan said: "We can’t
fully exclude the possibility of new war, but I don’t think that
Azerbaijan will take such a suicidal step. We have already got used
to the Azeri authorities’ blackmails. Today they want to scare us
with growing military budget fed by oil revenues, but such policy
is unpromising. First, should Azerbaijan decide to resume war, it
will face a worthy rebuff and quite sad consequences. Second, the
military scenario seems unreal also because the world and regional
powers are not interested in instability in the region because of
its oil projects and their huge investments therein. Third, the Azeri
society does not want war as it suffered much from the military actions
of 1992-1994. Only those who don’t know what war is are speaking of
it now. Those people will hardly fight should the war resume. If you
have noticed, most aggressive are those who are sitting in warm seats
of the Azeri government and, certainly, have "reserve airdromes"
for their children and relatives in case of war. If Azerbaijan was
a democratic country, the Azeri people would ask their former and
present leaders: for how long will they be used as cannon fodder? I
think that it is immoral to think and speak about war. Life has proved
that the Karabakh problem cannot be solved by force."