Yerevan /Mediamax/. President-elect of Artsakh Arayik Harutyunyan has spoken today about the principles of the settlement of Karabakh conflict.

“With thorough understanding of the concerns in our society, caused by the discussions on Azerbaijan-Artsakh conflict which have been held between the Armenian and Azerbaijani authorities with participation of OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chair, I would like to reiterate our principled stance that without full-fledged, legal involvement of the official Stepanakert, no effective solution can be reached for the conflict.

Of course, we highly appreciate the exceptional role of the Armenian government in this matter, but we have to underline that the primary mandate for negotiating any plan or document, proposed at the negotiation table, on behalf of the people of Artsakh belongs to the government of the Republic of Artsakh,” he said today.

The President-elect has presented 7 principles for the settlement:

“1. The government of the Republic of Artsakh must have full-fledged, legal participation in all stages of the process aimed at the peaceful, final settlement of the conflict.

2. The security of the people of Artsakh must not be jeopardized or bargained under any circumstances;

3. Any option of the settlement, which does not include the paramount recognition of the Artsakh people’s right for self-determination, cannot be a subject of substantial discussion between the sides;

4. Clear guarantees must be in place to exclude attempts of use of force and threat of use of force during the settlement, because Armenian and Azerbaijani people deserve to live in peace. In case of the opposite, the Republic of Artsakh is ready for a disproportionately tough counter-action in response to attacks from Azerbaijan up to taking military actions to the territory of Azerbaijan;

5. No option of the settlement can include unilateral concessions or disproportionate and inadequate compromise on the part of Artsakh Republic;

6. Armenian refugees and internally displaced people must have legal representation in the settlement and related processes equal to that of Azerbaijani refugees and internally displaced people, and their issues must receive similar and simultaneous solutions;

7. The international community (primarily the OSCE and the co-chair states) must exclude restrictions to and violations of the human rights of the population of Artsakh, which result from the conflict and the international status of Artsakh. These restrictions and violations include the factual isolation from international humanitarian programs, which Azerbaijan is trying to apply as a means of pressure against the well-known principles of the international law.”