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The Wall Street Journal presents an interview with Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan as well as its comments.

According to the newspaper, Serzh Sargsyan is concerned about Azerbaijan's willingness to engage in armed conflict over the Nagorno-Karabakh region.

In comments to The Wall Street Journal, President Sargsyan said the Armenian government would continue to push for a negotiated settlement to the conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh, which has simmered for nearly two decades since the collapse of the Soviet Union.

“Unfortunately, I believe Azerbaijan is waiting for an occasion to start a conflict," President Sargsyan said Thursday. "I am confident such a mistake would harm the people of Nagorno-Karabakh and Armenia but that most harm would come to the people of Azerbaijan….We won't stand aside when the population of Nagorno-Karabakh is going to be destroyed."

“Mr. Sargsyan—a fanatical chess player who built his political reputation as a longtime defense minister—is hoping to win a second five-year term in February elections,” writes The Wall Street Journal.

“Armenia has long said that the people of Nagorno-Karabakh should be given the right to decide their own fates, but the diplomatic track remains deadlocked. Threats of war have for years been intertwined with negotiations as efforts by the Minsk Group—created by The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe in 1992 and jointly chaired by United States, Russia and France—faltered,” writes the newspaper. “Tensions have risen in recent months. Sporadic firefights have intensified between the neighbors' forces, stationed in trenches as little as 100 meters apart along the enclave's so-called contact line. The war of words intensified in August, when Azeri President Ilham Aliyev offered a hero's welcome to Ramil Safarov, an Azeri officer convicted of hacking an Armenian to death with an ax on a NATO course in Hungary in 2004. The affair prompted a diplomatic storm, and Armenia withdrew its ambassador to Hungary.”

According to the newspaper, analysts say Serzh Sargsyan's “statements underscored the need for the international community to engage more actively.”

President Sargsyan said to the newspaper, “Armenia will strike Azerbaijan only if Nagorno Karabakh or Armenia are attacked but Yerevan's response will be disproportionately strong.”