ARMENIA TO RECOGNIZE THE INDEPENDENCE OF NAGORNO KARABAKH

Hayots Ashkhar Daily
23 Sep 2008
Armenia

In case there’s no other choice

As reported by MEDIAMAX agency, President Serge Sargsyan had a meeting
with the representatives of the international Media on September 20.

In response to the question "Where is the borderline of mutual
concessions, where is the boundary not to be crossed by Armenia,
and can Armenia theoretically imagine Karabakh as a federative or
any other state that forms part of Azerbaijan?", the President said,

"It was long ago that we announced about that borderline – at least
14 years ago, when we were signing a ceasefire agreement; we also
announced about it several times thereafter. The borderline is that it
is necessary to recognize the right of the people of Nagorno Karabakh
to self-determination.

That’s to say, we have the following problem: the people of Nagorno
Karabakh have lived on this territory for thousands of years, and now
it is necessary to create relevant conditions for them to continue
living safely on their lands. The period, I mean the Soviet times,
when Karabakh formed part of Azerbaijan, came to prove that the country
could no longer continue its safe existence as part of Azerbaijan.

As regards the theoretical option as to whether or not Karabakh can
form part of Azerbaijan, I can say that this can be determined=2
0through a referendum – by asking the people of Karabakh to express
their opinion. But I am sure that no matter what may happen in the near
future, the result of any referendum will be the same, i.e. the people
of Karabakh will not want to live in an Azerbaijani-governed territory.

I have told Azeri President Ilham Aliev that if the Azeris want to
show that they are seriously interested in the secure life and future
of Karabakh, they may make investments, serious investments in Nagorno
Karabakh and prove that Azerbaijan is ready to make investments and
convince the people of Karabakh that it can be a guarantor of their
security. Maybe thereafter, during the referendum, the people of
Karabakh will express desire to live inside an Azerbaijani-governed
state. Should one day Nagorno Karabakh become part of Azerbaijan
by some miracle, no single Armenian will remain there after a short
while."

To the question why Armenia hadn’t recognized the independence of
South Ossetia and Abkhazia, and whether it was ready to recognize the
independence of Nagorno Karabakh, Serge Sargsyan gave the following
answer,

"Nothing can be ruled out. Today, the issue of recognizing the
independence of South Ossetia and Abkhazia is not included in
our agenda. It may seem strange to you that we have always been a
supporter of the right to self-determination but haven’t recognized
South Ossetia and Abkhazia.

Our20approach is clear: we ourselves are facing a similar problem,
i.e. the problem of the Nagorno Karabakh Republic. We cannot recognize
Kosovo, South Ossetia and Abkhazia unless we have recognized Nagorno
Karabakh.

As to why we do not recognize the independence of Nagorno Karabakh
is because we are currently negotiating with Azerbaijan and want
to achieve the solution of the problem through peace talks. Do you
remember that recognition was said to be the last variant while
discussing the case of Kosovo and the other conflicts? If there’s
no other choice left, Armenia will recognize the independence of
Nagorno Karabakh."