Yerevan /Mediamax/. "The inalienable right of the people of Nagorno-Karabakh to self-determination represents a fundamental principle and foundation for the peaceful resolution,” Armenian Foreign Minister Zohrab Mnatsakanyan stated today.

“The recognition of this principle, which implies that definition of the final status of Nagorno-Karabakh cannot be limited, must be clearly and unequivocally accepted. The term “without limitation” clearly implies also the right of the people of Nagorno-Karabakh to maintain and determine a status outside the jurisdiction, sovereignty or territorial integrity of Azerbaijan. The persistent hostile policies and actions of Azerbaijan aimed at undermining and threatening the existential physical security of the people of Nagorno-Karabakh, including the latest attempted aggression by Azerbaijan against Nagorno-Karabakh in April 2016, emphasize the illegitimacy and impossibility of claiming jurisdiction by Azerbaijan over the people of Nagorno-Karabakh,” Mnatsakanyan said, addressing the 26th Meeting of the OSCE Ministerial Council in Bratislava.

“Azerbaijan must assume direct commitment to recognition of the right to self-determination of the people of Nagorno-Karabakh by way of legally binding free expression of the will of the people living in Nagorno-Karabakh, the outcome of which should have no limitation,” he added.

“The security of the people of Nagorno-Karabakh will not be compromised. Under no circumstances the people of Nagorno-Karabakh should be left without secure lines of defense. There will be no condition assuming a risk to existential physical security of the people of Nagorno-Karabakh as it was the case in 1991-1994 and in 2016. To underline this point, I refer to the situation in the territories of Nagorno-Karabakh, presently occupied by Azerbaijan, in which Armenians were ethnically cleansed and territories were completely resettled by Azerbaijanis. This reality has recently been presented by the leadership of Azerbaijan as a good example of a settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict,” said the Foreign Minister.

The full statement by Zohrab Mnatsakanyan is available here.