ARMENIAN PRESIDENT DOES NOT RULE OUT NEW WAR WITH AZERBAIJAN

APA
[ 12 Jul 2007 16:35 ]

"The cause of unsuccessful negotiations on the settlement of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict is the fact that Azerbaijan is unwilling to accept the reality and mistakenly thinks that the opposite process is possible, whereas it is senseless to turn back the wheel of history. The people who gained independence, will not refuse from that," Armenian President Robert Kocharian stated in an interview to SPIEGEL ONLINE.

Drawing a parallel between Kosovo and the Nagorno Karabakh conflicts said, "We do not want to attach to analogues, but undoubtedly the Karabakh people have the same right to independence as Albanians of Kosovo, moreover if they protected their right alone without interference by the international community. As to the assistance from Armenia ... Armenian people fought during the war. Do you really think that Albania has not provided assistance to Albanians of Kosovo? There are a lot of correlations here and I see Armenia and Karabakh's future as an asymmetric confederation.," Kocharian said.

He did not rule out a new war with Azerbaijan.

"Though I doubt that Azerbaijan's military budget is bigger of our state budget. I would warn against judging about the correlation of forces from both sides only by figures. You must take into account and the fact that the soldier who defends his homeland has another motivation, than the one who acts on a foreign territory. We do not have any intention to launch military operations. But in case of a prepared aggression we will make decisions, to which we will be obliged by the military situation of the time and which will meet our security interests. Our offers on the settlement of the conflict are connected with recognition of the republic and security guarantees. They suppose presence of peacekeepers. It must be an international peacekeeping contingent," Armenian President underscored.