YEREVAN. May 22 (Interfax) - Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan believes that Nagorny Karabakh has never been part of the independent Azerbaijan.
"It is known that Nagorny Karabakh has no connection with the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan because it has never been part of the independent Azerbaijan. However, the administration of this country, considering territorial integrity as the only principle, are consistently sabotaging the peace process, declining the other equal and important settlement principles," the presidential press service quoted Sargsyan as saying at the Eastern Partnership summit in Riga on Friday.
Sargsyan said territorial integrity in the 21st century should be respected by countries, but "when this integrity harms part of this society, kills any prospect of development, no one can connect it to the principle of the right of nations to self-determination."
"Eventually, if the only rule of the game was the principle of territorial integrity, representatives of so many countries would not be sitting at this table today because there just would not be so many countries," Sargsyan said.
The Armenian president also said peaceful settlement of the Nagorny Karabakh conflict is important in the development of Europe without division lines.
"Armenia's approaches are in line with the positions of European community, which is reflected in the statements by the heads of the countries co-chairing the OSC Minsk Group. It is known that the negotiation parties with the mediation of Russia, France and the U.S. have agreed that the Nagorny Karabakh conflict should be settled on the basis of the provisions of the UN Charter and the Helsinki Final Act, specifically, the right of nations to self-determination, non-use of force or threat of its use, and territorial integrity," Sargsyan said.