Armenia President: Karabakh people determined to be free

 April 23, 2016 - 15:42 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net - On the sidelines of the Second Global Forum Against the Crime of Genocide, President Serzh Sargsyan talked with the participants of the Forum and the delegates, presenting Armenia’s views regarding a number of issues.

Speaking about the difficulties posed by the geographical location of our country, President Sargsyan said in particular: “It is true that two out of Armenia’s four neighbors are hostile to our country. Nevertheless, since our independence we have adopted a multi-vector policy trying to develop relations with all our neighbors. Even with Turkey, we initiated the reestablishment of relations without preconditions. Our initiative revealed to the world why the Armenian-Turkish border is closed, who is setting preconditions and why the Turkish-Azeri “one nation- two states” formula is a real factor. Those who until now have not yet comprehended the political essence of that formula, have missed an important element in their calculations. We are a peaceful nation. We hate no one and do not build our relations on animosity or hatred towards anyone. Our people don’t like fighting but we are forced to fight for one simple reason: we want to live on our own land and we want to be free.”

The President also spoke about Russia’s role in the resolution of Karabakh issue.

“Yesterday I received Foreign Minister [Sergey] Lavrov,” President said.

“I briefed him on our position regarding the situation which has been established after the large-scale offensive unleashed by Azerbaijan. Russia, as an OSCE Minsk Group co-chairing state is actively involved in the Nagorno Karabakh peace process. For years, we were a responsible member of that process, trying to find mutually acceptable solutions, trying to be constructive. Obviously, the blunt violation by Azerbaijan of the 1994 ceasefire has thrown the peace process far back. We were convinced that the conflict could be solved through exclusively peaceful means; today the situation is different, however. Ceasefire and supporting agreements have been violated, five statements of the Presidents of the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairing states – U.S., France, and Russia - were violated, war crimes were committed, and now we are telling everyone – point your finger at the aggressor, so that lessons are learned, enabling us to move forward.”