NAGORNY KARABAKH DESERVES INTERNATIONAL RECOGNITION – PRESIDENT
RIA Novosti
July 13, 2009
The international community should recognize Nagorny Karabakh as an
independent state, the president of the disputed region said Monday
in an exclusive interview with RIA Novosti.
Nagorny Karabakh, a region in Azerbaijan with a largely Armenian
population, has been a source of conflict between the former Soviet
republics of Armenia and Azerbaijan since the late 1980s. The province
has its own government and is de facto independent, with close ties
to neighboring Armenia.
"I think not only experts but simply people familiar with the Karabakh
problem can unanimously confirm that the Nagorny Karabakh Republic was
proclaimed on the basis of all international norms and principles,"
Baako Saakyan said when asked whether there were legal grounds for
the republic to be recognized.
The presidents of Azerbaijan and Armenia, Ilham Aliyev and Serzh
Sargsyan, discussed the conflict last month in Prague on the sidelines
of the EU’s Eastern Partnership summit. They said there had been some
progress and are expected to meet in Russia on July 17.
A war between Azerbaijan and Armenia over the mountainous enclave in
1988-1994 left an estimated 35,000 people dead. Sporadic violence on
the border has continued ever since.
Moscow pushed the two countries together last year in an effort to
get the stalled peace process moving again.
Saakyan said the republic should be involved in the negotiating
process.
"Any document, any initiative that does not presuppose the
participation of the Nagorny Karabakh Republic is relative, and our
efforts are now aimed at ensuring that such documents and initiatives
are coordinated with us and, moreover, that without fail everything
takes place with our participation," Saakyan said.
Asked on the possibility of a military resolution to the conflict,
Saakyan said: "Remaining adherents to the peaceful conflict resolution,
we have always said that should Azerbaijan decide to resolve the issue
in this way [aggressively], it will receive the appropriate rebuff."