Alexander Iskandaryan: "In fact, Azerbaijan needs Karabakh, not Karabakh Armenians, therefore, even if there are special development programs, they will not be implemented"

- Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan announced that he offered to Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev to invest into Karabakh to prove Azerbaijan's interest in the welfare of Karabakh. Can you comment on it?

- Unfortunately, I do not read in Azerbaijani, while the initial link was in Azerbaijani language on BBC website. Further materials, I have found in Russia and English, were drawn from Azerbaijani sources, while Armenia had only the rebuttal made by the presidential press service.

Thus, I can comment on this only as follows: this is quite typical for our countries to exaggerate everything. Almost all the participants and actors of this discourse from Matthew Bryza to the presidents often make different announcements of different degrees of seriousness, while journalists could discuss them for weeks. It would better to check those who enter the journalism faculty for sense of humor.

- How do you assess the current economic state of the so-called "Nagorno Karabakh Republic"?

- The economy of the "Nagorno Karabakh Republic" is developing fast, though, certainly, it largely depends on the overall Armenian economy. The lands controlled by "Nagorno Karabakh Republic" border on only Azerbaijan and Iran. They have no direct communication with any of these countries by clear reasons. Therefore, Karabakh's economy remains a part of the Armenian economy. Karabakh's contacts with the external world lie only via Armenia. Its roads, telephone communication, banking system and currency is connected with Armenia. Karabakh is, in fact, bound to Armenia in the economic and demographic sphere, except for a political one, where not everything is like this due to the unwillingness of all parties to settle the conflict.

- Do you agree that being a part of Azerbaijan, Nagorno Karabakh will get more opportunities for economic development and for improvement of life of the Armenian population of the region?

- Indicators of the development of the non-oil economic sector of Azerbaijan, the number of migrants from Azerbaijani province, working in Russia, as well as the overall structural problems of Azerbaijani macroeconomy do not allow me to think so, even if we hypothetically admit its possibility. Armenia also has problems in the level of development of capital and provinces but Karabakh plays a special role for Armenia and the Armenian world and it receives special attention and direct investments.

In fact, Azerbaijan needs Karabakh but not Karabakh Armenians. So, even if there are special development programs, they will not be implemented. It would also be strange to imagine Azerbaijan, where Armenians live better than Azerbaijanis. Though, it is certainly a purely hypothetical situation, which is difficult to imagine.

/Day.Az/