Serzh Sarkissian states they were going to give 5 districts, Kelbajar and Lachin were going to be left to the Armenian side (VIDEO)

The third President of the Republic of Armenia Serzh Sarkissian gave an interview to the “ArmNews” TV channel.

– Mr. President, throughout the negotiations, the First, Second Presidents of Armenia and you kept stating that it was acceptable for us to return territories at some cost. It was one of the elements of the negotiations. If this is so if the return of lands has been discussed, then why do you accuse today’s authorities of giving back those lands? Recently, an idea was voiced in the parliament that we had been on the losing side over the past 20 years, starting from October 27, as the issue of returning lands and conceding territories has been continuously discussed.

– I have to repeat that we looked forward to what we were going to gain. Second, I cannot agree with you that these authorities have returned lands. No, they lost them, they handed them over. These are different things. They capitulated Armenia, demolished our army. Following our achievements in the early 1990s, throughout the 2000s, from the very first day of coming to the presidency, I have said in various terms that I see the solution to these problems only through compromise. Do you remember me saying in parliament that Aghdam’s not my homeland?

– Of course, I remember, it was manipulated a lot later.

– And do you remember that it was not only manipulated then but also recently, when insane people, who do not have a good idea of the reality, were taking selfies with the background of Aghdam and were saying that Aghdam is their homeland. I saw how they kept that homeland.

– I even remember the continuation of what you said: You were saying that Mirbashir (Tartar) is not our homeland, but, for some reason, they were focused only on Aghdam, while Mirbashir has never even been ours.

– Because Aghdam, at least the city, was under our control.

– And it was in our security zone.

– Yes, so please always distinguish between “giving” and “returning”.

– Mr. President, you have admitted several times that in 2011 you were ready to sign the Kazan document, Aliyev did not agree, at the last moment he tried to make some corrections. The essence of the Kazan document, ( we will now come to what we were getting because you are saying that the main thing is what we get)  was about certain territorial concessions. Until 2018, that is, during those 7 years in 2011-2018 when you were the president, we, in fact, artificially delayed the status quo, tried to gain time by assuming that time works in favor of the Armenian side. Do you agree with this?

 – No, I do not agree. I cannot agree not only with the theory of delaying, but I also do not agree with your idea that the Kazan document assumed territorial concessions. The Kazan document presupposed a  status for Nagorno-Karabakh outside Azerbaijan. I’ll repeat, forget what we were going to give, think about what we were going to have.

– We would get an internationally guaranteed status.

– We would get an internationally guaranteed promise that the final status of Nagorno-Karabakh should be determined by the free will of the people of Nagorno-Karabakh, which has a mandatory legal force, and the agenda of which is not limited by anything. It was giving us the opportunity to get to the solution of the problem very calmly, through compromises.  In addition, we could have an intermediate status for Nagorno-Karabakh, which the President of Azerbaijan and the OSCE Co-Chairs described as “today’s reality plus.” With that intermediate status, Nagorno-Karabakh would receive 7 security guarantees: the first point of which was that the security of Nagorno-Karabakh was going to be ensured by the NKR self-defense forces, Armenia was to be officially recognized as the guarantor of NK’s security, the election of the executive and legislative bodies in Nagorno-Karabakh should be recognized by the international community, the involvement of peacekeepers, etc.

–  And a reliable land connection with the Republic of Armenia.

– I will get back to that now. And, please listen carefully, NK was getting the right to join the international institutes, for the membership of which independence was not a necessary condition, and that was a plus. And until the day of NK independence, before the day of the referendum, we were going to have the Lachin-Kelbajar regions under our control.

– Do you mean the return of 5 districts?

-Yes. So there was no word about a land border or a corridor.

– We wouldn’t even give the Lachin region, that is, at least at that moment, we would give it.

– Neither Karvachar. That is, for Karvachar, there was some interconnectedness. I do not want to go into details, because it is for the specialists first, not for the general public. Four committees were to be elected: one of those committees had to deal with the referendum, the other had to deal with the evacuation of our population, the Armenian population, the return of Azeris, and they were interconnected. The further the idea of the referendum went, the closer the day got, the more this problem was about to be solved.

– Were the returning Azeris not going to take part in the referendum?

– No, of course, not. It was also clearly mentioned who needed to take part in the referendum.