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The territorial integrity of Azerbaijan has nothing to do with the territory of Nagorno Karabakh Republic. During today’s meeting with the reporters, RA Deputy Foreign Minister Shavarsh Kocharyan made this claim referring to one of the statements made by RA President Serzh Sargsyan during his recent interview.

“The meaning of the president’s statement is quite clear. The territorial integrity of Azerbaijan is not connected with the territory of Nagorno Karabakh Republic,” Kocharyan noted.

To note, during the interview conducted by Sputnik Armenia, President Serzh Sargsyan has stated that Armenia recognizes the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan, but believes that the right of self-determination of peoples must be taken into account regarding the settlement of Karabakh conflict.

“We do recognize the territorial integrity of all states, including Azerbaijan. Yet the [right of] self-determination of peoples in no ways contradicts the territorial integrity [principle], because the territorial integrity governs relations between states, while self-determination -- the capital and the people residing compactly on their historical homeland. If we deny the self-determination principle, we should not have left the Soviet Union, which we did exactly on the basis of this principle," President Sargsyan has noted.