By Victoria Vardanyan

YEREVAN, September 3 — “We will do everything in the name of independence as the ultimate goal, and this work of serving the country will lead us to the recognition of the independence by the international community,”  the president of Artsakh (Nagorno Karabakh Republic) Bako Sahakian told journalists on Thursday.

“On September 2, 1991, our nation made a decision of independence, on December 10 the same year a national referendum approved it, and the adoption of the Constitution in 2006, reaffirmed it,” he said.

“The independence has an exceptional value for our nation, which was founded and acquired, primarily due to the conscious self-sacrifice of thousands of our brave ones. And we consider it our duty to remember them and as gratitude for their heroism and sacrifice we are trying to create conditions in order to reassert the independence gained by the sacrifice. “

Commenting on the recent initiative of Azerbaijan to the UN, Sahakian said, “Yes, Azerbaijan is making such attempts, and it is not his first attempt. Over the years they have repeatedly made various statements to the effect that the work of the Minsk Group did not work out and tried to postpone the issue in other international forums, particularly in the UN.

“We are deeply convinced that such an attempt could not be effective not only for Azerbaijan but also for the process to solve this problem because, in our view, the main difficulties and the fact that we cannot achieve more significant results in the Armenia and Azerbaijan negotiation processes is associated with radical politics of the Azerbaijani government,” Sahakian said.

“Azerbaijan must demonstrate a constructive approach that will certainly help resolve the problem peacefully,” he said.

Arstakh celebrated its Independence Day on September 2. The independence of Artsakh has not been formally recognized by any state, including Armenia.

Yerevan Report

Photo credit: RFE/RL