Stepanakert: No Return to Former Borders

STEPANAKERT — “We consider it necessary to note that the position of the Nagorno Karabakh Republic on the prospects of settlement of the Azerbaijani-Karabakh conflict remains unchanged,” the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Nagorno Karabakh Republic said in a statement, responding to James Warlick, Washington’s chief Karabakh negotiator, who had outlined United States official position on settlement of Karabakh conflict.

“Any return to the past is out of question. The fate of Nagorno Karabakh has been determined by its people through a free and legitimate expression of will in the 1991 referendum on independence. NKR independence and security are absolute values that are not subject to any bargaining,” the statement reads.

“We believe that the joint efforts of the OSCE Minsk Group should focus on the development of such settlement mechanisms that stem from current realities and provide conditions for the peaceful coexistence of two independent states – the Nagorno Karabakh Republic and Azerbaijan – emerged as a result of the collapse of the USSR and the war unleashed by Azerbaijan,” the Foreign Ministry said.

Meanwhile, Nagorno Karabakh Republic president’s spokesman Davit Babayan in an interview with Armenpress announced that there exists only one viewpoint in Stepanakert – there can be no return to previous borders.

“We follow the NKR Constitution which emphasizes that there are no liberated or some other type of lands. There is only land – Republic of Artsakh,” says Babayan.