YEREVAN. Oct 24 (Interfax) - Yerevan says that Nagorno-Karabakh has every right to become an independent state, and the question of its self-determination is contained in a text currently negotiated between Armenia and Azerbaijan.
"There is no shortage of precedents. Most United Nations members became independent states by exercising their right to self-determination. So why must the people of Nagorno-Karabakh be less entitled to self-determination than any other people under this sun?" Armenian Foreign Minister Eduard Nalbandian said in an interview with Interfax ahead of a state visit to Russia by the Armenian president on October 23-25.
"Naturally, the people of Nagorno-Karabakh are equally entitled to it, and a provision about this right is present in a text that we are currently negotiating with Azerbaijan," the minister said.
The principles, the elements, which were proposed by the co-chairmen and articulated at three G8 summits - in L'Aquila, Muskoka and Deauville - by Presidents Dmitry Medvedev, Nicolas Sarkozy and Barack Obama, point precisely to this right to self-determination, the minister said.
"The final status of Nagorno-Karabakh must be determined by free will of the population of Nagorno-Karabakh, which will have international legal force. This says it all," Nalbandian said.
Asked whether Armenia is convinced of the outcome of the expression of will, the Armenian foreign minister said, "I think it is not only us who are convinced. As history shows, there is no other way."