Sargsyan warns Azerbaijan against new Karabakh war
Karabakh | 02.09.12 | 21:13
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Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan issued a stark warning to
neighboring Azerbaijan against starting another war over Nagorno-Karabakh
as he congratulated the internationally unrecognized republic on the
21st anniversary of its declaration of independence on Sunday.
`We don’t want a war, but if we have to, we will fight and prevail; we
are not afraid of murderers even of those who enjoy the highest
patronage,’ stressed Sargsyan in a message disseminated by his press
service in a clear reference to the pardoning by Azerbaijani President
Ilham Aliyev of army officer Ramil Safarov, a confessed murderer of
Armenian army officer Gurgen Margaryan who was serving a life sentence
in a Budapest jail before being handed over to Azerbaijan by Hungary
on Friday.
Armenia condemned what it described as a `deal’ between Hungary and
Azerbaijan and suspended its diplomatic relations and all official
ties with Budapest over the development.
Referring to Safarov’s extradition to Azerbaijan, the Armenian leader
said that `a greater disgrace for European justice could hardly be
imagined, particularly for Armenia and Artsakh.’ `Because we have
looked upon it for guidelines, but we have lived to see this as well,’
said Sargsyan.
Safarov received a hero’s welcome upon his return to Azerbaijan where
his release is widely seen as a sign of an upcoming victory in the
continuing standoff with Armenia. President Aliyev, who is credited
for Safarov’s return, has repeatedly threatened to go to war against
Karabakh that broke free of Baku’s control following a three-year war
back in the early 1990s. In his September 2 message the president of
Armenia also implied that the leadership of Azerbaijan failed to learn
lessons from history.
`In 1991, when the people of Artsakh were making their historic
decision, we told Azerbaijan that the Armenians must not be
underestimated. Our words fell on deaf ears. We said that we didn’t
want war but we were ready and would fight. And again our words fell
on deaf ears. We said that we were not afraid of maniacs, sadists and
murderers, that we had already seen that. Once again our words fell on
deaf ears. And they unleashed a war which had one clear-cut goal -to
wipe the Armenians out from the territory of Artsakh, or at least to
expel them. The program of ethnic cleansing failed, as will fail every
new one,’ Sargsyan said.