KARABAKH LEADER SEES NO GROUNDS FOR WAR

Arminfo, Yerevan
4 Sep 06

Stepanakert, 4 September: I am absolutely confident that at this
stage the world community would not want to see the resumption of war
between Karabakh and Azerbaijan and the aggressive statements that we
are hearing from Baku make us wonder as to "why they are doing this",
President Arkadiy Gukasyan has said in reply to a question from an
Arminfo correspondent.

The president noted that he does not see any grounds for the
resumption of the war – neither political, nor economic nor moral
nor geographic. He said that the most important thing is that we have
achieved the task we set, won the war which was imposed on us, have
built a developed society and the fact that the people of Nagornyy
Karabakh have been living a free and independent life over the past
15 years is a sign of that.

The leader of Karabakh noted that the declaration of independence was
the only way for the people of Nagornyy Karabakh. Life shows that we
were right. Otherwise, we would have repeated the plight of Naxcivan
[Azerbaijani exclave], Gukasyan noted.

The president of Nagornyy Karabakh noted that the main task for the
republic is to maintain peace and within that framework to sign a
treaty with Azerbaijan and to achieve the international recognition
of the Nagornyy Karabakh Republic. "I believe that we will be able
to solve these two main issues," Gukasyan noted.