In a statement released today, ex-Defense Minister of Armenia Seyran Ohanyan has outlined his views on the Karabakh conflict.

“Armenia has to find a dignified formula of peace with its neighbors, including Azerbaijan,” Seyran Ohanyan said, adding that “all resources and efforts of the Armenian people should be targeted at this purpose.”

“The Artsakh issue is not an obstacle on the way of having a developing and safe Armenian statehood, just the opposite. The opinion that Armenia cannot develop without the soonest resolution of the Karabakh issue is a fundamental mistake or a result of sincere delusion,” the former Defense Minister said.

“We have to develop Armenia to solve the Artsakh issue and ensure lasting peace instead of rapidly solving the Artsakh issue at any cost to ensure Armenia’s development. Unilateral or hasty and unjustified “mutual concessions” will not ensure peace, but will instead increase the possibility of resumption of war,” he added.

“The OSCE Minsk Group, separate states, and primarily, the Russian Federation, the international community are carrying out an important mission, trying to find a formula of peaceful resolution. I think the key to the settlement of the Karabakh issue is in Yerevan and Stepanakert, and the two have to find a way of reaching an agreement with Baku. The Nagorno Karabakh Republic – as a full party to the conflict, has to achieve the international recognition of its sovereignty,” Seyran Ohanyan added.

“I believe the Karabakh issue can be solved in a peaceful way through negotiations. We can reach an agreement with Azerbaijan and have to work in that direction,” he said, adding, however, that “it is hard to achieve tangible progress in the negotiations unless an atmosphere of mutual trust is established.”