KARABAKH PEOPLE’S STRUGGLE IS THAT OF NATIONAL LIBERATION – ARMENIAN PRESIDENT
NEWS.AM
February 04, 2013 | 11:29
The struggle of the people of Nagorno-Karabakh, or Artsakh, is a
national liberation struggle. Armenia’s President, and presidential
candidate, Serzh Sargsyan stated this in an interview with Russia’s
Ogoniok magazine.
“The Nagorno-Karabakh people, whom Stalin had ordered to become a
part of Azerbaijan, did not accept that order. The Karabakh people
themselves must determine the political status they should live with
in the future. There is no argument that will explain why that right
should be denied to Artsakh,” Sargsyan stressed.
The president recalled that the independence of the Nagorno-Karabakh
Republic (NKR) was declared in keeping with all constitutional norms of
the then-collapsing USSR and of all international laws. Azerbaijan,
however, responded by violence, pogroms, and war to the Karabakh
people’s calls for peace.
“And, today, the leadership of Azerbaijan threatens us with war. They
set free the murderer that killed a person with an axe [that is,
Ramil Safarov-the Azerbaijani army officer who had killed with an
axe Armenian soldier Gurgen Margaryan in Budapest back in 2004 and
who was released in Azerbaijan last year]. Enmity toward Armenia and
everything Armenia has become the propaganda motif of official Baku,”
Sargsyan noted.
Also, Serzh Sargsyan stressed that Azerbaijan, despite being a UN
Security Council non-permanent member, has started an arms race.
“We are continuing the talks with Azerbaijan, but it is unrealistic
to expect a breakthrough under such conditions. All those that deal
with this matter know very well who is at fault for not finding a
solution [to the Karabakh conflict]. They recall very well who failed
the talks in Key West [USA] and in Kazan [Russia]. And they know very
well that the essence of the matter is neither Nagorno-Karabakh nor
the [NKR] self-defense forces’ control of the adjacent territories;
consequently, the resolution does not depend on their return [to
Azerbaijan],” the president of Armenia stated in particular.
From: A. Papazian