SERGE SARGSYAN: NK’S INVOLVEMENT IN THE NEGOTIATION PROCESS WILL BENEFIT IN ANY STAGE

Public Radio, Armenia
Oct 10 2006

Karabakh’s involvement in the negotiation process will benefit in
any stage, RA Defense Minister Serge Sargsyan said in an interview
with REGNUM news agency.

Why does Armenia mind the discussion of the Karabakh issue in the UN?

In response to the question, the Minister said that Armenia is
against transferring the question to any other structure. "What can
this transfer give? It is not the question that can be discussed
in different structures every day. There is the OSCE Minsk Group,
members of which are permanent members of the UN Security Council.

What can the discussion in other structures change? Do you believe
that people who represent let’s say Somali or other countries far away
from us are well informed about the Karabakh issue? Are you seriously
confident that they can give us clever advice? I’m confident that
the core of the conflict is different – not to distort the activity
of the Minsk Group in the settlement of the Karabakh issue," Serge
Sargsyan declared.

In response to the question about the possibility of the military
resolution of the Karabakh conflict within the coming five years,
Serge Sargsyan declared, "I have always said, and I repeat that the
Defense Minister, particularly the Defense Minister of Armenia must
be always ready that the military actions may start tomorrow. From
this very perspective he must show responsibility as it regards the
country’s security. On the other hand I think that resumption of
military actions in the near future is impossible because of a number
of reasons. First, the Minister is confident that the Azeri army is
not capable of launching military actions of this scale. Second, the
international community will be very strict to this kind of actions,
since the resumption of war in Nagorno Karabakh can mark the start
of resumption of military actions in many other places. We should
recognize this. We need to think about security."