Future is uncertain conflict is unsolved Armenians
• The present situation is auspicious for Armenia, I think. I have no doubt whatso-ever that eventually Azerbaijan will have to reconcile to the thought that Artsakh (Karabakh) should be part of Armenia.
• The most distressing thing is that so far Armenia, too has not recognized the independence of Karabakh.
• Separation of Nagorni Karabakh was been the objective of the greater states;
that is why this situation will persist for some time.
• We just want to be in control of our property. We do not have a droplet of ag-gression.
• The most convenient option is the first one: this is what we want, the same cur-rency, the same language, the same passport. Nothing is uncertain.
• This is the least of evil, but it does not have future.
• I cannot maintain that this may be a long-term situation.
• No uncertain situation can last forever, but this situation is really becoming am-biguous.
• We should go for a compromise by all means…
• The Republic of Nagorni Karabakh is de facto an independent state: de jure we do not want anything else.
• If the independence of Karabakh is recognized, the hazard of war will perma-nently hang over us.
• The question of Karabakh will be resolved in some way by 2015 the latest.
• I do not fathom the independence of Karabakh.
• We base our reasoning on the right for self-determination; the Azerbaijanis base their claims on territorial integrity. This may go on forever.
• The good thing about this particular scenario is that the territories remain under the control of the Armenian forces; therefore gradual economic growth becomes possible. Unfortunately, that process goes on very slowly given that there are issues associated with documents, international recognition and so on. However, if the negotiations are moving towards a dead-end, then maintaining this status is not so bad for us.
• Recognition is not essential, we better preserve this status.
• Like Cyprus, we could go on forever despite the fact that there is no recognition by the world.
• As of this moment, the best thing is this, the status quo!
• The most realistic and optimal option for us Armenians is the status quo.
• This status of no peace no war is better.
• If time passes and Karabakh remains in this status, everything will go more smoothly in future. We should try to maintain this status in peaceful ways.
• Let it continue like this: we will try to work towards the de jure recognition.
• The sooner the issue of Karabakh is resolved, the more correct it will be.
• In reality, the issue of Nagorni Karabakh has already been solved in our favor, we just have to wait until the powerful states sign under that decision.
• If this goes on longer, Azerbaijan will want to strengthen its military potential and start a war. We should not forget that, and we should be able to find a solu-tion.
• We are fighting over a map. Do we really need that? You are asking the people of Karabakh if they need recognition of their independence or not. The people of Karabakh could not care less.
• It is critical that Karabakh be recognized by international organizations.
• What is independence for us? For example, our today’s status is “independence”
if we want the international community or Russia to acknowledge the indepen-dence of Karabakh, like they did with Abkhazia, Ossetia or Kosovo.
• Karabakh is a tiny territory. No one will acknowledge it as an independent state.
• Unless there is a pressure on Baku from international organizations, Azerbaijan will never recognize the independence of Nagorni Karabakh.
• Why is the Republic of Nagorni Karabakh not considered as a disputable terri-tory with its real territories?
• The issue of Nagorni Karabakh is already resolved. In time the world will just have to take into consideration the position of Karabakh.
• Artsakh must become party to the negotiations and we must be the presiding party in the Minsk Group. Let Azerbaijan and Artsakh discuss the issue and we will contribute to the fair settlement.
• Today Artsakh is de facto under the dominion of Armenia: the same money, the same army, just one piece of paper is left to be signed.
• It is even good that they don’t recognize Karabakh because recognition will come only when we submit the adjacent territories, and THAT will be destructive for us.
• Azerbaijan will never let Artsakh be recognized internationally.
• They kept saying that our problem will find its solution after Kosovo. Yet, that did not happen. Probably, we are not representing our demand firmly enough.
• Our Artsakh is independent de facto. Is it Azerbaijan to let us be independent?
• Why don’t we consider repopulation of the territories when we talk about re-in-tegration?
• The population of Nagorni Karabakh will prefer to be a sovereign state than to join Azerbaijan. This policy should be made use of, because even if Azerbaijan becomes an ideal state, it won’t be perfect for the Armenians.
• Let me recall a comment that I heard from an Azerbaijani: “If I were a Karabakhi, I would never agree to be in the structure of Azerbaijan”. What more do you want?
• I believe that the people of Karabakh have not decided for sure yet, whether to join Armenia or not.
• If Karabakh joins Armenia, our government will have to make substantial invest-ments in there. Today our government can hardly afford supporting Armenia.
How can it support Karabakh?
• As soon as Nagorni Karabakh becomes an independent state, the next day the Azerbaijanis will attack and devour it altogether!
• Does the Republic of Nagorni Karabakh want to be independent?
• Karabakh was Armenian long ago, but it can never be independent.
• This issue will not be resolved unless the Republic of Nagorni Karabakh has an officially established and recognized border with Azerbaijan.
• We should have acknowledged the independence of the Republic of Nagorni Karabakh back in 1994 and be done with it.
• Ok, we acknowledge the Republic of Nagorni Karabakh. Then what? Azerbaijan will stop shooting?
• Today Nagorni Karabakh is just a play card in the hands of the powerful states.
• The international community will decide to resolve the Karabakh conflict in favor of that nation, which can be used in future for its own purposes. For instance, in case of Azerbaijan that may be the oil storage.
• Karabakh will not agree to be in the structure of anyone, neither Azerbaijan nor Armenia.
• Karabakh is ours and it will always be.
• Sadly, we cannot resolve the issue of Nagorni Karabakh today. It is the powerful states of the world that can do it.
• Let’s think real, people. The government of Azerbajan is also accountable to its people. It has to explain to them what happened to Karabakh.
• The Soviet Union did not care whether Karabakh was within Armenia or Azerbai-jan. Now it is a critical issue.
• With the successful conclusion of the political games between the two powerful states, Russia and America, our issue will be resolved, too.
• We should realize that every powerful state pursues its own interests. If a power-ful country supports Armenia, the dominance will be on our side. And vice
ver-• sa…Who will acknowledge the independence of Karabakh when we have not done
• Even Armenia has not officially recognized Artsakh’s independence. When it so?
does, along with other countries, Nagorni Karabakh will develop more rapidly.
• Let us give an opportunity for Karabach to act as an independent state in the negotiations. That would be a huge leap forward.
• We have a lot of work to do within the international structures to represent our views before the powerful states and pursue our cause.
• Let the people of Karabakh decide their future. We live in peace here in Armenia.
They are in danger. Let them decide how to act.
• Of course, it is bad that there is no international recognition and, respectively, no international assistance. Besides, Azerbaijan keeps violating the ceasefire.
• I think that Karabakh does not want to live with Azerbaijan or Armenia. It wants to become independent and live in peace and quiet. Let it be so.
• If Azerbaijan insists on its territorial integrity, we must also maintain the integrity of our territories.
• Both parties are just talking nonesense and fooling us around without resolving any issues. Karabakh must deceide its fate independently.
• We must make the international community resalize that Karabakh is not Azer-baijan.
• The conflict of Karabakh will be resolved more easily if the circle of the negotiat-ing parties is reduced. The less international entities and factors interfere, the less interests will be involved, and accordingly the issue will be resolved without delay.
• Because of the fact that there is no international recognition there are no eco-nomic investments.
• Karabakh wants to prove everyone that it can and it deserves to be an indepen-dent state.
• For Nagorni Karabakh to be ours, the international community would have to acknowledge it.
• After all, the international community should also be interested to end this de-pendency status of ours…
• We shed so much blood; we wanted to see Karabakh in the structure of Armenia.
But that may only make the situation more complicated.
• Our young people died for Karabakh. We do not need war, yet the international community seems unable to propose specific solutions. We must do our best to resolve this issue peacefully, so that Karabakh becomes part of Armenia.
• We conquered those territories and now they belong to us. But who accepts that as a fact? Only we do.
• Let the situation become more complicated but let Karabakh be in the structure of Armenia.
• This situation will remain unsolved. Nothing is going to change.
• What do we want now? Do we want the people of Karabakh to live a decent life or we want Karabakh to eventually join Armenia?
• If they were able to reach a final solution, they would have reached it. The gov-ernments are unable to change anything.
• Even if Karabakh joins Armenia, the UN will not change its maps for us.
• Every moment we think that something is going to change. Our lives are full of suspense and anxiety.
• The entire issue is in the conflict of two basic international principles: peoples’
right for self-determination and the right for territorial integrity.
• Why do we keep chasing Azerbaijan to make them acknowledge the indepen-dence of Karabakh. We should work on other countries.
• With today’s ceasefire we owe to Russia and Turkey. They are the ones that play a key role in this region.
• There is a major conflict between the concepts of national self-determination and territorial integrity.
• The international community is trying to preserve this situation in order not to irritate the parties to the conflict. They want the emotions settle down a little so that they can find a solution to this issue.
• The most important thing is the will of the people of Karabakh. Why are we try-ing to decide anythtry-ing?
• This is a conflict between the super states and not between the Armenians and the Azerbaijanis.
• Kosovo was created on the Serbian land, while we are unable to protect our own state on our own historic land.
• Why don’t the international entities recognize the independence of Nagorni Karabakh when Karabakh really wants to be independent? Don’t you see that this is an issue for those international entities.
• The fact that we are not sure about what kind of solution we are specifically seek-ing for this issue today, comes from the fact that we are receivseek-ing incomplete or inaccurate information from the upper circles.
• If the UN acknowledges that the Republic of Nagorni Karabakh is independent, then acknowledgement by Azerbaijan will not be important. Unfortunately, the UN will not do that without Azerbaijan.
• Was kosovo so powerful? Why did it attain what it wanted? Yet we are indepen-dent but trying to persuade Azerbaijan…
• Let Azerbaijan represent Karabakh within its borders on the maps. We don’t care! The importatn thing is that we keep those areas under our control while they draw new maps.
• Researching into everybody’s interests and identifying our own interests within that context… this is the only solution.
• Today’s situation is leading to a reality where Nagorni Karabakh will eventually compel everybody to recognize its right for self-determination.
• Today’s situation is the least of all evils. I think this situation will go on for at least five years.
• We will have to try to go further than the status quo, i.e. return our historic lands.
• How can we go to negotiations if we don’t know our status?
• Azerbaijan will never accept our independence. Scenario 5 is not even being discussed at the table of negotiations. But the question of status should be es-tablished internationally.
• If we want to join Armenia, there is nothing bad in it. There are a lot of examples of various nations and people who do not wish to live within a certain state and they separate without any conflict.
• Zhirinovsky once said that it would be better if Nagorni Karabakh were append-ed to Russia instead of Armenia or Azerbaijan. To me, it would be much better if we joined Russia: we would be a neutral territory and would live a better life.
• Any deviation or change from today’s situation is quite risky.
• Let’s assume that Armenia officially recognized our independence. What hap-pens then? A war? Will the powerful states let them destroy us? They did not let Abkhazia to be beaten, did they.
• You are saying that they are mustering their forces? But we are not fast asleep either. Our issue will be resolved as time goes by.
• We would rather live in an unacknowledged state for ten more years than be caught in the chaos of war again.
• If this goes on, in a certain time we may arrive at a resolution and, as a result, gain international recognition. There are already two examples in the world: Kosovo and Abkhazia. But we will probably be the third example, as the English like to put it, “the unique one”.
• Even this situation when you don’t know what to expect tomorrow, is better than making the wrong decision and throwing ourselves into the crater of disaster.
• Given that we cannot resolve this issue in our favor at this point, and given that the international community is using the principle of so-to-say “fifty/fifty”, the current situation is much more advantageous for us than for Azerbaijan.
• Was it better ten years ago than now? Of course, not. Now our situation is better, we are in peace, we live in our homes.
• This situation cannot go on for long.
• There should be some solution but I cannot see it in the perspective.
• Historically, we used to have two Armenian states and one of them was abol-ished. If we do not unite as soon as we can, the same thing will happen. We can-not delay the solution of this problem.
• I believe that if we go on like this, the war will restart again. But war is unavoid-able anyway, even if other states intervene.
• Staying in a situation of uncertainty is not good. The longer it continues, the more difficult the solution of this conflict will become.
• The negotiations around Karabakh must render some results. This situation can-not go on forever.
• This situation will not provide any advantages for us if we do not use this time period to become more powerful.
• The worst thing is uncertainty. I cannot travel anywhere with my documents un-less I turn to a hundred of higher authorities to get a permission.
• For ten years they have not given us our status. Have we not been able to live our lives?
• Let us live a difficult life but let us be free! This should be our principle.
• It is high time for Armenia to undertake measures towards the recognition of Nagorni Karabakh. Who are we trying to persuade if our brotherly state has not acknowledged us yet?
• From the moral point of view, Armenia is waiting for other states to acknowledge the independence of Karabakh and only after that will it acknowledge the inde-pendence of that state. But this is wrong. Armenia should be the first to
recog-nize our independence. In that case the other countries will follow Armenia’s example.
• If Nagorni Karabakh is not yet part of Armenia, that is already a huge compro-mise on our behalf.
• We certainly realize that there are negative aspects in this situation, but our achievements are more important. There was a time when the Soviet Union was not internationally recognized, too, you know.
• In any other scenario the hazard of war will be more palpable if we continue giv-ing Azerbaijan a lot of opportunities and privileges.
• I am sure that we will gain recognition in time.
• What we have achieved today is more important than any other solutions.
• There is no way out: this situation should be maintained for as long as it is pos-sible.
• If we have a status we will be living on a barrel of gun-powder. If we do not have a status we will be facing the risk of coercion any moment, apart from the prob-lem of physical safety. In other words, we are left in-between two evils.
• It is true, we attained this status through the power of weapons, but it cannot go on forever.
• This situation is too inconsistent. Who knows how the balance will change and who will benefit from this and how. This is not a solution, and we need a solution to this problem.
• We must take specific steps towards the acknowledgement of Karabakh’s inde-pendence by the international community.
• Yesterday we had more opportunities than today. Tomorrow the chances will be even less.
• We need a final solution: this situation cannot go on forever.
• We need a final solution: this situation cannot go on forever.
• This is not a situation that we chose or did not choose: this situation was due to evolve as a necessity.
• What international community? Does Ossetia need recognition by France, Eng-land or China to exist? Not at all! Recognition by Russia is more than enough for them.
• The resolution of the problem of Artsakh is this: we create a status similar to that of Vatican in this region.
• The conflict is going on between Armenia and Azerbaijan, while the people of Nagorni Karabakh seem to be awaiting the resolution of the conflict and remain passive.
• For now this situation is good, it is a ceasefire.
• America supported Kosovo and Kosovo became independent. This means that we will have to continue our fight for the acknowledgement of Nagorni Kara-bakh’s independence by the powerful states.
• Uncertainty is everywhere. For instance, you cannot formally register your busi-ness trip to Nagorni Karabakh because officially there is no such country. The independence of Nagorni Karabakh should be recognized.