February 15, 2005 - 20:17 AMT
STILL EARLY TO THINK OF REFUGEES' RETURN TO KARABAKH, ARMENIAN DEFENSE MINISTER CONSIDERS
It is still early to speak about the return of the refugees to Karabakh, Secretary of the National Security Council under the RA President, Defense Minister Serge Sargsian stated in his online interview with Yerkir weekly. In his words, if Azerbaijan raises the question of the return of the Azeri refugees to Karabakh, Armenia should as well demand the return of the Armenian refugees to the regions Azerbaijan forcibly attached to its territories. "If we start resolving the problem from this point it will cause new conflicts and resumption of hostilities. Thus, we can revert to this issue after the conflict is settled. May be then lots of Armenians will reside in Azerbaijan and lots of Azeris will settle in Armenia", he said. When touching upon the corridor between Armenia and Nagorno Karabakh as well as between Azerbaijan and Nakhichevan, Serge Sargsian noted that he does not admit any try to equal Karabakh and Nakhichevan, since "Karabakh is an enclave while Nakhichevan is not as it has an overland border with Turkey and Iran". "If the matter concerns communications, we should respect Azerbaijanis' right to freely communicate with Nakhichevan. It is a technical task and can have a corresponding solution", head of the RA Defense Ministry stated.