YEREVAN. – The option of giving up territories in exchange for status cannot be acceptable to Artsakh.

Secretary of the Security Council of the Republic of Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh Republic/NKR), Vitaly Balasanyan, on Monday told the above-said to reporters at Yerablur Military Pantheon in Armenia’s capital city of Yerevan.

“It’s not so that we today are saying we will do everything 100 percent so that there will be no issue of territories; the [Karabakh peace] negotiations will show,” Balasanyan said. “[But] the Artsakh party [to the conflict] and all Armenians are not ready to any territorial concession in exchange for something.

“We have made concessions in 1988, in 1991; Armenia has made those concessions when we had a united Armenia, and Artsakh was declared independent.”

He recalled that they have supported and maintained four UN resolutions that were passed, from 1991 to 19994, and have made respective concessions.

“When the situation was dire in Azerbaijan, they adopted a resolution at the UN; we refrained from offensive actions,” the Artsakh official stated. “But Azerbaijan was rearranging its troops for one to two months, bringing military equipment, and starting offensive operations. We have conceded four times; we have conceded on May 12, 1994.”

On May 12, 1994 the defense ministers of Armenia, Artsakh, and Azerbaijan had signed a ceasefire agreement, in Russia.