SERZH SARGSYAN: SETTLEMENT OF KARABAKH CONFLICT STILL HAS A LONG WAY TO PASS

Noyan Tapan

Nov 17, 2008

YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 17, NOYAN TAPAN. The settlement of the Karabakh
conflict still has a long way to pass, the Armenian president
Serzh Sargsyan said during an interview with the Public Television
Company of Armenia. "We must be able to reach such a decision through
negotiations that will allow me to be at least convinced that this
decision proceeds from the interests of our people, after which we
should bring it up for national discussion. Then it will be necessary
to sign a treaty, then an agreement, and so on," the president said,
adding: "When I say that we will not delay the problem, it does not
mean that the problem will be solved tomorrow, in a month, three or
four months". In the opinion of S. Sargsyan, "we should not delay
artificially the problem’s solition but me should reach a decision,
an agreement to be followed by a long process. This is not a problem
to be solved by a person, two, three and even 1,300 people, this is
one of the most vital problems of our people, and our people must
say whether it agrees with the version that we will reach through
negotiations," the Armenian president stated.

According to him, making daily inquiries about the details of the
negotiations is the task of political figures, but the task of the
negotiators is to be able to keep the society informed, in a general
way, about the principles of the problem’s solution but not to give
the negotiations’ details as negotiations are a complex and delicate
process, during which one should be careful and purposeful. "Our
political forces will necessarily participate in discussions, perhaps
it is not the time to bring up the issue for discussion now, but
in order to calm the storm in a teacup, I will probably invite the
chairmen of the political parties and try to hear their questions
and find out what they are concerned about," S. Sargsyan noted.

The president underlined that he is in favor of the NKR’s and its
president’s being involved in the negotiation process. He said that
perhaps "this is the most efficient way, and it will be so, there is
no other direct road".

In connection with the Maindorf Declaration, which was signed
by the presidents of Armenia, Azerbaijan and Russia and has been
criticized, S. Sargsyan said that in fact, it is the only document,
in which Azerbaijan has accepted the political way of solving the
Nagorno Karabakh problem. The Armenian president pointed out that the
conflict’s settlement must be implemented based on the fundamental
international documents: "It is the Azerbaijanis who should speculate,
why do you speculate about it? You should realize that it is not the
problem of Serzh Sargsyan here but that of Karabakh," the president
said.

He denied that Armenia is making unilateral concessions. "I have
always said and I repeat now that the Nagorno Karabakh problem can
be solved if Azerbaijan accepts the possibility of exercising the
Nagorno Karabakh people’s right of self-determination, if Nagorno
Karabakh and Armenia have a land border, and if the population of
Nagorno Karabakh receives strong guarantees of security. It is a
simple problem, and only a crazy person can find only concessions
in these wordings. Over 17-18 years, when speaking about the Nagorno
Karabakh problem, I have never used the phrase "unilateral concession"
or the word "concession", maybe "compromise", but not "concession".