YEREVAN. Jan 26 (Interfax) - Yerevan is prepared for any possible scenario resulting from the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, Armenian President Serzh Sargsian said.
"We believe that the right way is to negotiate, continue negotiations, reach deals on the basis of well-known principles, which is only possible when you observe the truce and have built bridges of confidence. Nothing good has yet been achieved by the burning of bridges and never will be," Sargsian told the defense collegium held on the occasion of the 23rd anniversary of the Armenian army on Monday.
"I repeat: we are ready both for the good and for the bad. There are all possible options on my table. We can and must hold peace talks with a sober partner. As for a non-sober one, we must and will, of course, impose the peace," the Armenian president said.
The start of 2015 was tense on the Armenian-Azeri border, he said. "Each incident was and will be followed by retaliation. Until recently, our retaliation was symmetrical in form and asymmetrical in terms of losses. Now the response could be asymmetrical in form as well. The hotheads should expect surprises. Moreover, in case of a bigger threat amassing near our borders and along the contact line, we reserve the right to carry out a preemptive strike. The enemy's recklessness will force us into inflicting irreversible damage," the Armenian president said.
Armenia is not going to start a war, Sargsian said. "We are not staging incidents, we have no reason to start a war. We don't need this," the country's leader said.
In his view, by staging border incidents Azerbaijan is trying to show to the international community "what might happen, unless all of its demands are met, but what Azerbaijan does not take into account are the horrible consequences all these actions might have for them," the Armenian leader said.