“The reason for the failure in the talks on the Karabakh conflict is that Azerbaijan doesn’t take into account the present-day realities,” said Robert Kocharyan during an interview with the German “Spiegel Online” online newspaper. According to Kocharyan, the Azeri side doesn’t realize that “it is impossible to turn back the wheel of time”. “The people who have gained independence will not give it up.” With regards to the increase in the Azeri military budget and the possibilities of the restart of military operations, Kocharyan announced that that danger is always present. He also expressed doubt that the Azeri military budget exceeds that of Armenia’s.
“I don’t think that the relationship between the armed forces of each side should be expressed by figures. It is necessary to take into account that there are different motives for soldiers defending the homeland and entering somebody else’s lands,” said Kocharyan.
Referring to the international debates on the recognition of Kosovo’s independence, Kocharyan said:
“I don’t think that the people who have gained independence and have maintained it for 15 years will start to think about whether other countries will recognize it or not. We don’t have the desire to draw parallels with Kosovo, but it is evident that the people of Karabakh are no less important than the Albanians, and have the right to autonomy.”