SERZH SARGSYAN: ARMENIA OVERCOMES DIFFERENCES ON THE MODEL OF EUROPE
ArmInfo.
2010-02-10 20:38:00
ArmInfo. "The newest history of Europe is one of overcoming differences
through cooperation. Armenia has always been a proponent of this
approach. It lies at the heart of our policies. It is also the way
in which we are ready to move forward in resolving the Mountainous
Karabakh issue, a vital cause for the Armenian people, a problem that
has inflicted unspeakable pain and losses to my people",- said Serzh
Sargsyan, the President of the Republic of Armenia, in the Chattem
House British Royal Institute of International Affairs.
"We have witnessed a policy of the most brutal ethnic cleansing and
displacement. The people of Mountainous Karabakh were forced to pay by
blood to defend their right to live freely in a war that was imposed
on them. We must find solutions the implementation of which will not
lead to further displacement and ethnic cleansing. We have to realize
that the people of Karabakh consider that they have managed, on the
one hand, to restore historical justice distorted during Stalin’s
dictatorship, and, on the other, to safeguard the minimum conditions
necessary for their physical survival. It is with this realization
that we continue the talks with Azerbaijan and perceive the peace
process and the efforts of the mediators",- he said.
"The truth is that Karabakh was never a part of independent
Azerbaijan. It was forced into Azerbaijan by a decision of the Soviet
Union party authority, which, defiant of the League of Nations decision
and the popular referendum as a means of determining the border between
Armenia and Azerbaijan, decided in its Caucasus Bureau session in 1921,
under Stalin’s direct pressure, and in violation of the procedure,
to annex Mountainous Karabakh on the condition of forming a national
autonomy on these Armenian territories within the Soviet Socialist
Republic of Azerbaijan",- stressed Serzh Sargsyan.
To recall, the Armenian president is paying a three-day working visit
to London.