The third President of Armenia, Serzh Sargsyan, gave an interview to TV host David Sargsyan regarding the negotiation process on the Nagorno-Karabakh issue.

Referring to Nikol Pashinyan’s statement that after the 2016 April war, Nagorno-Karabakh lost all theoretical and practical possibilities of secession from Azerbaijan, Serzh Sargsyan said: “After the April war we received proposals from the Co-Chairs. And those proposals in no way violated the red lines that we’ve always had. Firstly, it was issue of self-determination of Nagorno-Karabakh, secondly, the existence of a land border between Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh, thirdly, recognition of the authorities of Nagorno-Karabakh as legitimately elected people by the international community, and such numerous aspects, which in one place were called the interim status of Nagorno-Karabakh, in one place were called temporary status, in one place were called recognized status, and fourthly, security guarantees.” 

“No declaration was signed or adopted in Kazan. That was the last document that was called a working document. After that, there was no document, no proposal from the co-chairs, where the provisions of the Kazan document were not protected. After Kazan, we didn’t agree to any document and didn’t express any opinion. We said that since we were ready to sign the document approved by you (ed.- the co-chairs), if you have any changes, coordinate them with Azerbaijan, and if they agree to accept those proposals as a basis, then we will respond,” Sargsyan said answering a question about the negotiations in Kazan.

Sargsyan was asked why did Azerbaijan consistently reject it when the parties were close to signing the treaty. “Yes, Azerbaijan failed, yes, Azerbaijan refused to negotiate, but the proposals were not getting worse. The proposals came from the Kazan document. And there was nothing in any document that could make us not even cross the red lines, but even approach those red lines,” Sargsyan said.