Serzh Sargsyan has pledged Armenia's commitment to a peaceful resolution of the conflict with Azerbaijan over Nagorno-Karabakh.
"Armenia is confident that a renewed war is not a solution to the Karabakh issue; the conflict leads to instability and tension, increasing differences, stirring up national and religious issues and posing a danger to the security of other states," the Armenian president said in a lecture at Lomonosov State University in Moscow on Monday.
Serzh Sargsyan said that over 20 years ago, the people of Nagorno-Karabakh "fulfilled their right to freedom and independence, which they protected in an unequal war, started by Azerbaijan", PanARMENIAN.Net reported.
He praised the work of the international mediators and Russian President Dmitriy Medvedev in seeking an end to the conflict.
“Over recent years, the OSCE Minsk Group has put in great efforts to achieving a peaceful settlement of the conflict. I’d like to express my gratitude to Dmitriy Medvedev who for many years has worked towards progress in the Karabakh settlement,” the Armenian leader said.
“Armenia’s position in supporting rapid and peaceful settlement of the Karabakh conflict remains unchanged,” he concluded.
As the Armenian president was speaking in Moscow, President Ilham Aliyev was telling the Azerbaijani government that Azerbaijan would never give up its "principled position based on both historical truth and international legal norms" on Nagorno-Karabakh.
"The territorial integrity of Azerbaijan will never be a subject of discussions," the Azerbaijani leader said.
The conflict between the two countries began in 1988 when Armenia made claims on the Azerbaijani territory of Karabakh. In a bitter war Armenian armed forces occupied a swathe of Azerbaijani land, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts. Despite a ceasefire in 1994, no long-term peace agreement has been reached.
The nub of the conflict remains unresolved - the competing claims of territorial integrity, which Azerbaijan insists takes precedence in the case of Karabakh, and self-determination, which Armenia wants to see for the Armenians of Karabakh.
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