“15 years ago at the referendum for NKR independence our people thought first of all about their future but not about the possible response by the international community. The NKR, independent from Azerbaijan, is not an end in itself but the only condition for the existence of the Karabakh people on the land of their ancestors, their development and prosperity,” Nagorno Karabakh President Arkady Ghukasian said in an interview with Azat Artsakh newspaper. In his words, the international recognition of NKR is a long and extremely difficult way depending on the processes in the region and balance of geopolitical forces. “But, finally, everything depends on us, on our will, patience, and ability to overcome difficulties and our readiness to build a legal state. The Nagorno Karabakh Republic is de-facto formed and it is recognized by many in the world. We could defend our independence in the war, moreover, we overcame its consequences in a relatively short historical period of time and built a state which left Azerbaijan behind by many parameters, including the level of democratization of the political and social life,” the President said.
At the same time he remarked that NKR will never agree with such settlement which can prejudice Nagorno Karabakh’s security, not to mention the independence from Azerbaijan. “I am convinced that bypassing the fundamental issue of the status of NKR any attempt to solve problems, including that of the security zone around NKR, is a way to war. We have no closed subjects, however, it does not mean we are ready for one-sided concessions. The degree of our concessions depends on the degree of Azerbaijan ‘s concessions,” Ghukasian said.
