July 10, 2009 - 12:12 AMT
Any attempt to present NKR as part of Azerbaijan unacceptable
Any attempt present NKR as a part of Azerbaijan is unacceptable, Bako Sahakyan, NKR president said at the opening of the pan-Armenian conference on Armenian-Turkish relations and settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. The conference was organized by the Central Board of the Hay Dat Commission of ARF Dashnaktsutyun

According to him, Nagorno Karabakh must be full participant in negotiations, since without NKR representatives, negotiations are carried out in a violated format, PanARMENIAN.Net reports from Stepanakert.

"We have repeatedly stated that resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is impossible without our direct involvement in the negotiation process. The people of Karabakh do not want war, but we are always ready to defend the independence we won," Bako Sahakyan emphasized.

With regard to normalization of the Armenian-Turkish relations, the president of Nagorno-Karabakh, mentioned the psychological aspect, which influences the course of negotiations. "We also believe that there is no link between normalization of the relation and resolution of the Karabakh problem, and the Armenian-Turkish reconciliation should not be carried out at the expense of NKR. Today, Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh must address all the problems through joint efforts," Sahakyan said.