President Sargsyan: Security of Nagorno Karabakh people can be ensured only outside Azerbaijan

YEREVAN, JULY 12, ARMENPRESS. Ensuring the security of Nagorno Karabakh people is the top priority issue for Armenia, “Armenpress” reports President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan announced in an interview with “Al Mayadeen” TV.

He stated that the people of Artsakh (Nagorno Karabakh) must have the opportunity to live in their historical fatherland as long as the world exists, “as they have lived there for millennia”.

“Their security can be ensured only and only outside of Azerbaijan”, Sargsyan stated.

Describing the background of Karabakh conflict, Serzh Sargsyan reminded that when in 1988 the Armenians went out into streets for protests, their demand was unification with Armenia, adding that it is the sovereign will of the people of Artsakh to live in an independent state or united with Armenia.

“Today no one doubts that if Karabakh appears inside Azerbaijan under some circumstances, no single Armenian will remain in Karabakh. This means that the pivotal thing is that Karabakh remains outside Azerbaijan. We advocate that Nagorno Karabakh itself decides its final status like happens in other places of the world. It that right were not so important and were not among the fundamental rights, today the UN might be comprised of 50, 60 or 70 states and the states gaining independence would not become a UN member state. The same Azerbaijan would not be an independent state today, and Armenia as well, as both Armenia and Azerbaijan gained independence as a result of the collapse of the Soviet Union”, Serzh Sargsyan stated.

According to Serzh Sargsyan, the fundamental issue is that the Azerbaijani leadership must finally understand that “those people can in no way be encompassed into Azerbaijan”.

“The following fact is vital: Armenians lived in Nagorno Karabakh for millennia and it has never been part of Azerbaijan. Karabakh was forcefully encompassed into Azerbaijan by a decision of a political party, the Caucasian Bureau of the Communist Party, having no common thing with Azerbaijan”, the President stated. He also drew parallels with the situation in Nakhichevan, reminding that no single Armenian remained there after being encompassed into Azerbaijan, while the Armenian historical and cultural heritage has totally been annihilated. “A number of years ago some thousands of khachkars (cross-stones) were destroyed in front of everyone, and nobody, including the UNESCO, were able to prevent it”, President Sargsyan noted.

In his words, now, even if the entire world unites and persuades the people of Nagorno Karabakh to live inside Azerbaijan, it will be impossible, they will not agree. “I do not speak about force, as any great power or international organization can solve this issue by force. I mean that it is possible to exterminate the people of Karabakh, it is possible to commit any violence against them, but it is impossible to persuade them to live inside Azerbaijan”, Serzh Sargsyan concluded.