Azerbaijani refugees from Karabakh have full right to return home: Armenian president

"I think that political and physical safeguards are inseparable. The biggest political guarantee is well crafted and coherent document,” the president said.

“This document needs to be very clearly fixed what we agree so that then at some point no one - neither the Armenian side, no Azerbaijani side will have a reason to refuse to take further action,” Sargsyan said in an interview with host of Saturday News program Sergei Brilev.
“We are currently conducting talks at the presidential level, at the level of foreign ministers, co-chairs regularly visit us. They came to Armenia, Azerbaijan, Nagorno-Karabakh, we have had many meetings with the President of Azerbaijan, discussed several issues of the Madrid principles," the president said.

"Russian President Dmitry Medvedev have recently joined us and with his help we have almost agreed on the first item for which we are certainly grateful to him. I say this on my behalf. And I think that we should probably meet frequently with the President of Azerbaijan and continue the discussion of those principles,” the Armenian president added.  

Sargsyan said presidents of the co-chair states have instructed their representatives to introduce an updated version of the Madrid principles to the parties. "And if this updated version will actually be consistent with the spirit and logic of the Madrid principles, it's good,” Sargsyan said.

He said the latest development in the Karabakh settlement at this stage was the joint statement by the presidents of Russia, the United States and France, that is,  the co-chairs of the Minsk Group in L'Aquila and publication of certain provisions of the so-called Madrid principles that are being discussed.

He noted the logic that underlay the current phase of the settlement, that is, the Madrid principles was made public. This is a referendum to determine the final status of Nagorno-Karabakh, the return of control of the territories of Azerbaijan, which in Karabakh and Armenia are referred to as "security zone" and the normalization of relations.

The Armenian President also touched upon the issue related to the problem of Azerbaijani refugees. "My position has been voiced many times, including to Ilham Aliyev and co-chairs, and it stipulates that, of course, Azerbaijani refugees from Karabakh have the full right to return to their homes, but they could do so after the final status of Nagorno-Karabakh is determined,” the president said.

He said there was still no such conflict where return of refugees ahead of time did not provoke a new outbreak. “ We seek to achieve solution for what? For the sake of peace, for the sake of stability and so that every man will know where he/she will live,” Sargsyan said.

/Novosti – Armenia/