YEREVAN. April 20 (Interfax) - The Azerbaijani-Karabakh conflict has never been viewed as an internal affair of Azerbaijan, either in the Soviet era or during the formation of independent states in the former Soviet Union's territory, Foreign Minister of the unrecognized Nagorno-Karabakh Republic (NKR) Sergei Kazaryan said.
"This is proven by the fact that, as soon as Nagorno-Karabakh, Armenia and Azerbaijan became independent, the international community set up a special mechanism for settling the Azerbaijani-Karabakh conflict - the Minsk process. [...] The community of states did not recognize Artsakh [the Armenian name for Nagorno-Karabakh] as part of independent Azerbaijan. Meanwhile Azerbaijan's consent to participate in the Minsk process is yet another recognition of the fact that the Nagorno-Karabakh problem is not an internal affair of Azerbaijan," Kazaryan said in an interview with the Karabakh news agency Artskhpress.
"The Almaty Declaration has never been viewed as a political and legal basis for settling the Azerbaijani-Karabakh conflict or determining the status of Karabakh," he said adding that the declaration contains the same norms and principles as the UN Charter, including the right to self-determination.
The UN Security Council should take measures to prevent ethnic cleansing and illegal deportation from happening in Nagorno-Karabakh, Kazaryan said.
"States have an obligation to take resolute, effective steps, both individually and collectively, to prevent the gravest crimes, first and foremost, genocide and crimes against humanity, including ethnic cleansing and illegal deportation. The UN Security Council has the direct responsibility for preventing such crimes ," he said.
The NKR is committed to a peaceful settlement of the Azerbaijani-Karabakh conflict, Kazaryan said.
"Political aspects of settling the Azerbaijani-Karabakh conflict should be discussed in the approved, internationally recognized negotiating format on the basis of equality of the sides and firm international guarantees of their fulfillment of obligations," he said.
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said earlier that Karabakh Armenians should either accept Azerbaijani citizenship or find another place of residence.