ARMINFO News Agency, Armenia
October 7, 2017 Saturday


Bako Sahakyan: Sooner or later Independence of Nagorno Karabakh will
be recognized-it is just a matter of time

Yerevan October 7

Tatevik Shahunyan. The independence of Nagorno-Karabakh will sooner or
later be recognized - it's only a matter of time. This was stated in
the interview to the newspaper "Noah's Ark" by the President of
Nagorno-Karabakh Bako Sahakyan.

Assessing the mediation efforts of the OSCE Minsk Group, Sahakyan
noted that she is carrying out a large, very important work on the
settlement of the Azerbaijani-Karabakh conflict, maintaining peace and
stability in the region. "Stepanakert highly appreciates the role and
long-term work of the co-chair countries in this whole process," he
said.

Speaking about the possibility of Artsakh's return to the negotiating
table, he noted that it does not depend only on Stepanakert's desire.
"We have always advocated the restoration of a full negotiating
format. But it was violated because of the destructive policy of
official Baku.

Moreover, there was a very specific situation. The format of the
negotiations, where the Republic of Artsakh, along with Azerbaijan and
Armenia, is recognized as a full-fledged party to the conflict, was
determined through consensus at the 1994 Budapest Summit of the OSCE.
The format change should also be approved at the OSCE summit again on
the basis of a consensus decision. It was not. Thus, the destructive
behavior of Azerbaijan rudely violates the political and legal basis
of the negotiation process. Violates it and moral and ethical
standards. The fate of Artsakh cannot be solved without his
participation, "Saakyan said, while stressing that holding
negotiations even in a distorted format is better than stopping them
altogether. Nevertheless, the NKR leader emphasized, the restoration
of the negotiation format is uncontested and is only a matter of time.

He also stressed that one of the key components of the settlement of
the Azerbaijani-Karabakh conflict is the maintenance of peace and
stability in the region. "However, official Baku constantly violates
the ceasefire, resorts to sabotage, subversive and terrorist actions.
All this, of course, is stopped by the Army of Defense of the Artsakh
Republic, but, unfortunately, it does not do without losses.

Responsible for this is Azerbaijan, which by its actions causes
serious damage to the negotiation process and the efforts of
intermediaries, threatens the stability in our region. Even the
numerous human losses on the part of Azerbaijan itself do not hamper
the aggressive policy pursued by Baku, "Sahakyan said, stressing that
the international community, through the co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk
Group, must continue taking appropriate steps in this direction.