ARMENIA WILL PROMOTE CORRECT UNDERSTANDING OF KARABAKH CONFLICT

Interfax
Sept 1 2009
Russia

Armenia will have to ensure the security of the self-proclaimed
Nagorno-Karabakh republic and to provide the international community
with a correct picture of this problem, Armenian President Serzh
Sargsyan said.

"Armenia’s top priority tasks include ensuring the security of the
Nagorno-Karabakh Republic as part of the ongoing talks and helping
the international community understand this problem correctly,"
Sargsyan said at an annual meeting with Armenian Foreign Ministry
officials in Yerevan on Tuesday.

"In this conflict, the Armenian people acted as a freedom fighter, and
no one has a right to call Nagorno-Karabakh an aggressor. Our response
to all this must be precise and confident," the Armenian leader said.

Armenian-Azeri talks aimed at finding a solution to the conflict over
Nagorno-Karabakh have been guided by "this visible and understandable
logic," he added.

"It is clear that the principles behind the Madrid proposals published
by the co-chairmen of the OSCE Minsk Group contain points that differ,
in certain cases dramatically, from the solutions presented by us. But
it is a fact that all the parties involved perfectly realize that the
Nagorno-Karabakh people’s right to self-determination and guarantees
of Karabakh’s multi-layer security are key," Sargsyan said.

It will take weeks or even months to solve this problem, the Armenian
president said.

"Everyone should understand that our negotiations address just some of
the main conflict settlement principles. Even if we manage to reach an
agreement on them, a large number of other issues will remain open,
including the treaty itself. All details of its application need to
be agreed upon. This process requires a great deal of work," he said.

Sargsyan also called on Armenian ambassadors accredited in member-
countries of the Organization of the Islamic Conference to step
up their efforts to "neutralize" the negative impact of this
organization’s resolutions on the Karabakh conflict.