Armenia recognizes the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan, but believes people’s right to self-determination needs to be taken into account in resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh (Artsakh) conflict, President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan told Sputnik Armenia.

“We [i.e. Armenia] recognize the territorial integrity of any state, including Azerbaijan,” Sargsyan said in an interview with renowned Russian journalist Dmitry Kiselyov. “But people’s self-determination does not contradict in any way the principle of territorial integrity because territorial integrity concerns relations between countries, whereas self-determination [is related to] the capital city and the people that live compactly in the civilized world, all issues are resolved without the use of force, especially in the historical motherland.”

According to the President, if Armenia rejected the principle of self-determination, it should not have left the Soviet Union on its basis.

“Therefore, these principles do not contradict each other,” he added.

The Armenian President recalled that, several times, Armenia and Azerbaijan were close to signing an agreement on resolving this conflict, and which included the fundamental precepts for settling this matter.

“But every time the Azerbaijani party was positing new demands,” he added, in particular.

In his words, however, the Armenian party to this day stands ready to return to such a document. 

“But our readiness means nothing because, in such cases, all parties, not just one party, should be ready,” said Serzh Sargsyan. “Besides, the events in [early] April [when Azerbaijan unleashed a military aggression against Artsakh] showed that there is zero trust between the parties [to the Karabakh conflict].”