“Any attempt to present the Nagorno Karabakh Republic within the frameworks of Azerbaijani territorial integrity is both incomprehensible and unacceptable for us. This neglects natural development of history and life, as well as contradicts the realities of the past,” President of Nagorno-Karabakh Bako Sahakyan announced at international conference launched in Stepanakert yesterday. “The war was not our choice; it was imposed on us in response to our peaceful and civilized call for restoration of historical truth. Heavy and unequal battles created our Defense Army, which in a very short period of time carried out its sacred duty of defending Artsakh people and statehood with flying colors. Each of you has personal contribution to great and small, military and economic victories of Artsakh. And this very spirit of a unified victory has made the unshakable will and readiness of the people of the Nagorno Karabakh Republic to live freely and independently in their own land be heard more audible. This spirit predetermined our past, it determines the present and the future of our people,” the president said. As of the Armenian-Turkish relations Sahakyan mentioned that there can be no progress in the Turkish-Armenian relations at the expense of the NKR issue. “Those issues are on two platforms and bargaining in this regard will lead the process to a deadlock,” he said.
