The president of the Nagornyy Karabakh Republic [NKR], Arkadiy Gukasyan vows to defend region’s independence
Mediamax news agency
2 Sep 05
Yerevan, 2 September: The president of the Nagornyy Karabakh Republic
[NKR], Arkadiy Gukasyan, said today that “our state has proved to
the world that it has become not only a de facto state, but also is
ahead of many of its neighbours by the level of its compliance with
the standards of the European community”.
Arkadiy Gukasyan said this in his address on the occasion of the
14th anniversary of the proclamation of the independence of the NKR,
Mediamax reports.
“Nobody taught us lessons of democracy, as it happens every day and
every hour with regard to Azerbaijan, a country where not a single
election, be it a presidential, parliamentary and municipal election,
has met simple norms of a modern democratic society so far. Today
Azerbaijan cannot even protect the rights of its own people, not to
mention the national minorities living in that country. This fact
alone is enough for the world community to recognize the right of the
Nagornyy Karabakh people to its own sovereign state independent from
Azerbaijan,” Arkadiy Gukasyan said.
The NKR president said it was not by chance that “the Baku authorities
have been trying their best to hide from the Azerbaijani people the
achievements of Nagornyy Karabakh in building a law-governed and
democratic state, not allowing their citizens to visit the NKR and
communicate with the Karabakh people”.
“However, this behaviour has no future because it alienates the two
nations from each other and puts back a comprehensive and mutually
acceptable settlement of the conflict. Moreover, such actions by
the Azerbaijani leadership, as well as their stubborn refusal to
negotiate with the Karabakh side, seriously question the prospects
of settling the Nagornyy Karabakh problem in a civilized way and on
the basis of reasonable compromises. For this reason, the unsettled
status of the conflict still remains a factor that might lead to the
new destabilization of the situation in the region.
The NKR leadership is devoted only to a peaceful settlement of the
conflict with Azerbaijan. At the same time, our people can be sure
that nobody will ever deprive us of Artsakh’s independence which
we gained at the cost of irreparable losses. The NKR defence army
is capable of repelling with credit anyone who dares to invade our
motherland. We have all the necessary means and possibilities to do
so,” Arkadiy Gukasyan said.
“The establishment of Karabakh’s statehood would not have been
possible without active assistance and help from Armenia and the
diaspora. However, we are still not making full use of the economic and
political potential of the Armenia-Artsakh-Diaspora triangle, including
in the issue of the NKR’s international recognition. I am sure that
we have something to work on in this sphere,” the NKR president said.