KARABAKH MUST BE INDEPENDENT, NO UNILATERAL CONCESSIONS for Azerbaijan – President Sargsian
Interfax
Sept 21 2009
Russia
Yerevan will hold a dialog with Baku on Karabakh if certain conditions
are met, said Armenian President Serzh Sargsian."We would accept it
with three amendments: Karabakh will never be part of Azerbaijan again,
Karabakh’s independence will be recognized at the political level,
and the last one, the independent Karabakh must retain safe ground
communication with Yerevan," he said in an interview with the MK
newspaper published on Monday.
"If these three conditions are met, we will probably be ready for a
dialog," the Armenian president added.
"We are not going to make any unilateral concessions to Azerbaijan.
They are absolutely ruled out," he said.
"This is what some in Russia, in the West and Baku think. But I gave
21 years to the land of Artsakh and I cannot afford to lose it.
Karabakh was and will remain free," the Armenian president said.
"Those occupied territories that Azerbaijan is demanding from us
today are the border settlements between them and us, this is our
security zone. We will not give them away. They may call us occupants
for this. I am not offended," Sargsian said.
"If they were able to take these lands by force, believe me, they
would have done so. But they are not. Therefore, one has to heed
our opinion. Then, sooner or later, a compromise might be found,"
the Armenian president said.