Media Should Appeal to Azerbaijan to Sign Agreement Not to Use Force:
Sarsgyan in Euronews Interview
14:18 – 20.03.10
The history is well known. Nagorno-Karabakh has not been part of
independent Azerbaijan, said Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan in an
interview with Euronews TV channel yesterday, in response to the
interviewer’s statement that the international community is of a
different opinion to that issue.
`The international community does not have a different vision.
Nagorno-Karabakh was not a part of independent Azerbaijan. It was the
Caucasus Bureau of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union that
attached Nagorno-Karabakh to Azerbaijan.
`Why did the international community acclaim the collapse of the
Soviet Union and not consider Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Kazakhstan
and Uzbekistan part and parcel of the Soviet Union? – still saying
Karabakh is an integral part of Azerbaijan? It’s not logical, is it?’
Asked what kind of compromises he’s willing to make in order to reach
a peaceful settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, Sargsyan said:
`One cannot eliminate the consequences of this conflict without
addressing its causes. And when speaking about the causes… we talk
about recognizing the people of Nagorno Karabakh’s right to
self-determination… the recognition of this right and its
implementation. The other problems will be solved rapidly after that.
`The Armenian parts of this conflict, Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh,
are profoundly interested in a swift resolution of this conflict. But
a sustainable resolution that would allow for peace and security in
the region, as opposed to giving Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh, which
would spell the end of its existence.’
Azerbaijan states very clearly that it will never accept
Nagorno-Karabakh’s independence, noted the Euronews correspondent.
`What does the international community propose to us? To solve this
conflict on the basis of three principles of international law:
firstly, self-determination; secondly, territorial integrity; and
thirdly, the non-use of force.
`I propose, through you, the media, to appeal to Azerbaijan to sign an
agreement not to use force. This would instill trust in the Armenian
people of Karabakh and Armenia. And under these conditions of trust we
would begin the negotiations for a settlement.
`We Armenians know very well what Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity
means. We’ve talked about it openly several times. The Azerbaijanis…
can they say what the right of self-determination means for the people
of Nagorno-Karabakh?
`When we issue joint declarations about the right of
self-determination, Azerbaijan is not talking about the Armenian
people’s right to self-determination but of the right of the main
player in the conflict… the people of Nagorno-Karabakh,’ concluded the
Armenian president.
Tert.am