Artsakh President Bako Sahakian speaks at Artsakh Parliament

Artsakh President Bako Sahakian on Thursday said that there will be no return to the past, both interns of territories and status of Artsakh, directly responding to statements made last week by Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, who claimed that the Karabakh peace talks were focused on a “phased” approach, which envisions ceding of territory to Azerbaijan as a first step to a settlement of the Karabakh conflict.

Speaking to a session of parliament where he presented a “state of the state” address detailing the progress made by his government in the past year, Sahakian said that the Artsakh authorities have not deviated from their principles regarding Artsakh. He also added that official Yerevan has already refuted Lavrov’s claims by saying that such an approach was not part of the negotiations.

“When we reflect on the Karabakh issue, we are talking about our destiny,” Sahakian said, adding that while he always has publicly and privately supported the OSCE Minsk Group’s mission of establishing peace, he has always advanced the notion that Artsakh’s security and independence could not be bargained with.

“During these years, we [Artsakh] have not deviated in any way, either from our position or from our principles,” said Sahakian, describing the Azerbaijan-Karabakh conflicts as “one of the most complicated issues in the world.”

“Taking all this into consideration and respecting the interests of the international community, we are obligated to achieve a peaceful resolution to the conflict, while strongly maintain our position,” explained Sahakian who said that Artsakh will always “respect the proposals of the Co-Chairs and their sincere efforts to resolve the conflict.”