David Babayan: Artsakh has never been a full-fledged part of  Azerbaijan and never will be

ArmInfo.Artsakh has never been a full-fledged part of Azerbaijan and never will be. This was stated by the Foreign Minister of Artsakh David Babayan in an  interview with journalists in Yerevan on April 15.

Thus, when asked to express his position on the statements of  Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev that the citizens of Artsakh are  citizens of Azerbaijan and to clarify to what extent the Armenian  side recognizes the Soviet borders, Babayan stated that this issue is  very ambiguous. "First of all, the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Region  has become self-determined even within the USSR. In 1991, the NKR was  proclaimed in full compliance with all the applicable laws of the  USSR and the norms of international law," Babayan said.

According to him, in this context, it is not correct to say that the  NKAO, the NKR, and Karabakh as a whole can be part of the current or  Soviet Azerbaijan. "We have never been a full-fledged part of  Azerbaijan and we never will be. Everyone should understand this. I  would like to remind you that even in Soviet times, Karabakh had its  own statehood, and in many areas we did not directly submit to  Azerbaijan," the Foreign Minister of Artsakh stated.

When asked to comment on the provocative actions of the Azerbaijani  Armed Forces, in particular, the throwing of stones at civilian  vehicles, the shelling of civilians during agricultural work, Babayan  said that the international community is informed about these  actions, since the state institutions of Artsakh, the Ministry of  Foreign Affairs, make appropriate official comments.

"Of course, we must understand that Azerbaijan will use such methods.   First , it is cheap from a financial point of view, you do not need  to use tanks, UAVs, air forces. Because the goal is the same-to expel  the Armenians from Artsakh. And such methods terrorize some people.   In addition, it is easier for Azerbaijan. Well, they will say that  this is not done at the state level - maybe some crazy follower of  the victim of the first or April war resorts to such actions. This  removes the Azerbaijani state from the area of responsibility. We  must understand this well, and do everything not to succumb to  provocations. We know the Azerbaijanis well. Maybe some people don't  know them and compare Aliyev almost to Gioconda, but we know better,  " the head of the Artsakh Foreign Ministry summed up.