President of Armenia rejects Karabakh being part of Azerbaijan

Serzh Sarkisyan, President of Armenia, excludes any possibility for the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic (NKR) to make part of Azerbaijan in any status. As he said, the history had demonstrated that Nagorno-Karabakh and Azerbaijan are incompatible.

"We've never even thought that Nagorno-Karabakh can remain in Azerbaijan," said Serzh Sarkisyan in his interview to the German newspaper "Frankfurter Algemeine Zeitung".

Mr President has emphasized that the main issue is in the status of Nagorno-Karabakh. He thinks that Azerbaijan should recognize the right of the people of Nagorno-Karabakh to self-determination. As to the territories around Nagorno-Karabakh, now under control of Armenian armed formations, Mr Sarkisyan has noticed that this control in not an end in itself.

According to his version, this is just a tool for ensuring safety of Nagorno-Karabakh. He pointed to the need of setting up the conditions to guarantee safety of the NKR population. Answering a question on possible recognition of NKR's independence by Armenia, Serzh Sarkisyan said: "We're not so strong to unilaterally recognize the independence of Nagorno-Karabakh and view the process over. The recognition of the independence of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic is the final step in the Karabakh problem."

Concerning the Moscow Declaration, Serzh Sarkisyan has noted that the document excludes any way to settle the conflict by force. As he said, this is just Declaration, not a treaty. At the same time, he warned against underestimating the document: "I'm glad that Azerbaijan has signed the Declaration, which is based on all the principles of international law as applied for settling the conflict, not just the principle of territorial integrity."