July 22, 2009 - 17:27 AMT
Armenia had to act as patron to NKR
Armenia is ready to cede 7 NKR regions to Azerbaijan, still, this will hardly satisfy Baku, ex-NKR Defense Minister Samvel Babayan told a news conference.

"Since 1994 Armenian authorities were intending to cede 7 NKR regions to Azerbaijan and only preserve a land corridor with Armenia. We liberated our own territories, but today we're negotiating and even discussing our readiness to cede 7 regions to Azerbaijan. It's simply unacceptable for us." According to him, there's no point in discussing mutual concessions , as Azerbaijan is not ready to concede.

According to ex-NKR Defense Minister, Armenia shouldn't have started NKR conflict settlement negotiations with Azerbaijan. "Armenia had to act as NKR's patron, like Turkey does to Azerbaijan. Armenia is not a direct party to conflict to participate in negotiations and decide NKR's fate," Samvel Babayan noted.

In his opinion, establishment of RA-Turkish relations is directly linked to NKR conflict. "NKR issue intensified right after intensification of Armenian-Turkish relations. In this situation NKR issue was turned into bargain article," ex-Defense Minister emphasized.