INAUGURAL ADDRESS OF…

Azat Artsakh Tert
Sept 7 2007
Nagorno Karabakh Republic

Honorable President of the Republic of Armenia, Honorable Mr. Arkady
Ghoukasyan, Your Grace, Respected Chairman of the National Assembly,
Distinguished deputies and guests, Ladies and gentlemen Assuming
high and responsible post of the President of the Nagorno Karabagh
Republic I would like to thank in the first place our people for
active participation in the July 19 Presidential elections and my
constituency for confidence. I appreciate the position of those
citizens who voted for other Presidential candidates too. This
means that they are concerned about development and progress in our
country. These visions will be definitely taken into consideration.

The past elections once again vindicated a unified will of the people
of Artsakh to live in a free and sovereign historical motherland.

Simultaneously, they demonstrated a decisive role of the country’s
public sector in forming the state’s supreme authority. In the coming
five years we will continue to build free and prosperous country
securing for this very purpose cooperation between all strata of
our society. Taking the opportunity I would like to thank all foreign
state and nongovernmental structures, international organizations, mass
media that carried out observation of the July 19 elections and covered
this important for our state event. The assessments of the observers
will substantially contribute to the rating of our country as an
effectively functioning state worthy of international recognition. We
also highly appreciate their remarks and suggestions, which will be
taken into consideration in elaborating further democratization of our
country. These assessments prove that the foundation of our independent
statehood is quite firm. In this context I would like to express my
respect and gratitude to the first President of the Nagorno Karabagh
Republic, President of the Republic of Armenia Robert Kocharyan to his
merit and contribution to NKR’s declaration as an independent state,
effective organization of the republic’s defense against aggression,
development of state institutions, economic recovery in the first
postwar years, as well as for his input in just settlement of the
Nagornyy Karabagh conflict. Achievements in the recent period gave me
a right to thank on behalf of people second president of the Nagorno
Karabagh Republic Arkady Ghoukasyan. Under his leadership in the last
ten years our country registered considerable progress in carrying
out socioeconomic reforms, democratization of public and political
life, and finally adopted its basic law – the Constitution. We are
confident that Mr. Ghoukasyan will continue to use reach experience
of state, political and national figure for the interests of the
Motherland. Dear friends, During the campaign I got another chance to
visit almost all settlements of the republic and get acquainted with
problems and concerns of our people. It was very much important for
me see and hear about all these issues. In the coming five years we
will definitely take into account suggestions and advice given during
these meetings. The main goal of my presidency will be to have a
viable, socially just, economically developed, and politically stable
state. The strength of such a state to a greater extent is derivative
from our policy towards the needs of the youth and socially vulnerable
strata. The authorities have much to do in this field.

Being guided by the Constitution we will continue to build a state,
which will protect the interests of its citizens. Ethnic minorities
will enjoy special protection. We have a clear-cut agenda of challenges
facing our republic. To address them we need to reshape the policy
of socioeconomic development and put special emphasize on exploring
investment resources directing them into the most perspective
fields. Available scientific and intellectual potential will also
serve this purpose. International recognition of the Artsakh Republic,
which is a pillar of our foreign policy, will give a serious impetus
to the pace of our development. This is also in the interests of the
region. NKR Defense Army will be ready to rebuff any attack against our
state and society. The issues of army building, strengthening defense
capacity, solving social problems of the servicemen will be always in
the focus of attention. We are exclusively adherent to the principles
of peaceful settlement of the Karabagh-Azerbaijan conflict. Highly
appreciating the efforts of international mediators, we hope that our
opponents will eventually realize that there is no alternative to the
full participation of the Nagorno Karabagh Republic in the negotiation
process. Ladies and gentlemen, International recognition of the Nagorno
Karabagh Republic is the most important task that requires hard work
to further consolidate potentials of Artsakh, Armenia and the Diaspora
and deepen traditional cooperation. Our strength is in our unity. At
the end I would like to thank all those who have congratulated me on
my election. I assure you that all my energy, knowledge, and experience
will be used for the good of our nation. Thank you.