Serzh Sargsyan: Armenian side may consider return of territories
surrounding Karabakh to Azerbaijan as compromise, while retaining
corridor linking Karabakh with Armenia
YEREVAN, MARCH 26, NOYAN TAPAN – ARMENIANS TODAY. During his three-day
official visit to Syria, Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan gave an
interview with Al Watan newspaper. At the request of the reporter, in
addition to discussing Armenian-Syrian relaions, the president also
spoke about Armenian-Turkish normalization and the Karabakh conflict
settlement, armradio.am reported. When asked what influence the
adoption of the Armenian Genocide resolution under discussion at the
U.S. Congress would have on the Armenian-Turkish normalization
process, Serzh Sargsyan said:
"The resolution under discussion at the U.S. Congress is an internal
affair of that country, and we do not interfere, despite the moral
importance of the issue. We did not make the recognition of the
Armenian Genocide a precondition for establishing normal relations
between Armenia and Turkey because our principled stance is to improve
Armenian-Turkish relations without any preconditions. I consider as
incorrect the attempts to link this process with recognition of the
Armenian Genocide by other countries. One thing is obvious to me: the
longer the process of normalizing our relations takes place, the more
countries will adops such resolutions".
Speaking about the economic consequences of the closed border for
Armenia, S. Sargsyan noted that the price of the closed border is much
higher in the political dimension. "The blockade is nothing else but a
means of using force," he underlined.
As for a compromise version of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict
settlement and those concessions that Armenia is ready to make,
President Sargsyan said: "To resolve a conflict, it is necessary to
seek its solution in the area of its causes rather than consequences.
The people of Nagorno Karabakh tried to solve the decade-old injustice
in a legal way, but it met with brutal force. A security zone was
formed around Karabakh in order to strengthen Artsakh’s security, and
we neither populate nor use this zone. When the people of Karabakh
receives a real opportunity to exercise their right to
self-determination and some practical mechanisms of security and
development are created, the Armenian side may consider the return of
these territories surrounding Karabakh to Azerbaijan as a compromise,
while retaining the corridor linking Nagorno Karabakh and Armenia.
I have repeatedly stated this. However, mutuality is the key idea in
the notion of compromise, and it is necessary to understand that
unilateral concessions in such a situation will only deepen the
existing dangers and threats".