The people of Artsakh must live a sovereign, secure and decent life, we must have a guaranteed right to self-determination and to control our own destiny in the homeland, the status quo must be preserved until a comprehensive and final settlement of the conflict, and the violators must be subjected to the strongest international censure and brought to justice, said President Araik Harutyunyan at a meeting of the Artsakh government.
According to him, public authority should be exercised in the manner prescribed by the Constitution and laws of the Republic of Artsakh.
"We are ready for dialogue and conflict resolution with Azerbaijan, but we have clear principles and red lines stemming from the fundamental rights, vital interests and demands of the people of Artsakh. In this context, the following main circumstances must be taken into account:
– First of all, it is necessary to provide a stable and mutually trustworthy environment, excluding provocations, cases of the use of force and psychological violence, so that we can discuss the issues of concern to both sides. Moreover, if the most narrow and everyday issues can be discussed and solutions found through simple contacts, then I think the involvement of the international community is important for the discussion of more global issues;
– The blockade should be lifted, and Artsakh should have continuous and unrestricted land communication with Armenia, without any involvement of the Azerbaijani side;
– The security and normal functioning of vital infrastructures running from Armenia to Artsakh, which are under Azerbaijani control, should also be guaranteed by fully restoring gas and electricity supply and excluding new cases of their disruption.
It is important to stress that because of the failure of these infrastructures, as I have already mentioned, the water resources of the Sarsang reservoir have sharply decreased, which in spring and summer will create a serious crisis for Azerbaijani farmers, because there will not be enough water resources to irrigate tens of thousands of hectares of land;
– Our official dialogue can take place within an appropriate international format, which should be based on mutually acceptable principles, the norms of international law;
– The composition of the negotiating delegations must be determined exclusively by the sides, which means that Azerbaijan cannot interfere in the issue of forming the Artsakh delegation, and the same logic must be applied to the process of forming the Azerbaijani delegation;
– The proper involvement of Artsakh in the international community processes, including the presence of UN structures in Artsakh, must be ensured, which will provide important guarantees of security and development for the people of Artsakh;
– For both the dialogue itself and the comprehensive resolution of the conflict, the use of force and the threat of force must be excluded, which must be guaranteed by international security guarantees;
– The right of the people of Artsakh to self-determination and to control their own destiny is non-negotiable. It is the natural and fundamental right of our people, which is also enshrined in well-known international documents;
– Artsakh will never renounce its sovereignty, and integration with neighboring Azerbaijan is out of the question;
– International recognition of the realization of the right of the people of the Republic of Artsakh to self-determination and any other process or decision that goes beyond the logic of protection is unacceptable from our side, as it will surely lead to the ethnic destruction of the population of the Republic of Artsakh by Azerbaijan," Harutyunyan said.