Yerevan /Mediamax/. Deputy Foreign Minister of Armenia Shavarsh Kocharyan said, thaty "the barbaric acts committed by the detachments of the Azerbaijan Army during the recent aggression against Nagorno-Karabakh reveal the very fact why Nagorno-Karabakh cannot be part of Azerbaijan.

Deputy Foreign Minister said it during an interview with German Die Tagespost newspaper.

“Armenia will guarantee the security of the people of Nagorno-Karabakh within its full capabilities in case of any military aggressive action against the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic. The Nagorno-Karabakh Republic strives for international recognition, however, as of now, not a single state, including Armenia, de jure recognizes the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic, not to undermine the ongoing negotiation process, mediated by the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs. One of the key elements of the process is the determination of the final legal status of Nagorno-Karabakh through a legally binding expression of will of its people”, said Shavarsh Kocharyan.

Answering to the question on what Armenian expects Europe to do for stability and self-determination of the Armenians, Deputy Foreign Minister said that it is important that international community make targeted statements on the escalation of the situation in the region.

“Azerbaijan perceives the tolerant statements based on European system of values as a carte blanche for its intolerant politics. This perception was behind the recent large-scale aggression against Nagorno-Karabakh with the use of heavy weaponry, artillery and air force. Europe can have its input in preventing Azerbaijan from withholding the agreements reached on May 16 in Vienna between the Presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan”, he said.

Talking about Turkey’s role in NK issue Shavarsh Kocharyan said that Turkey fully supports Azerbaijan in this matter.

“Two factors hinder the normalization of relations between Turkey and Armenia. The first is Turkey’s denial of the Armenian Genocide, committed by the Ottoman Empire in 1915, and secondly, Turkey unilaterally closed the border with Armenia in support for Azerbaijan’s policy of blockading Armenia. Thus the Turkish-Armenian border is the only closed border in Europe”, said the Deputy Foreign Minister.

Shavarsh Kocharyan noticed that Turkey, in support for Azerbaijan, continues the blockade of Armenia and by its statements encourages Azerbaijan to further toughen its already destructive position in the Nagorno-Karabakh negotiation process.

“The ratification of the Armenian-Turkish Protocols, along with the refusal to deny the Armenian Genocide was testing Turkey’s actual readiness to integrate into Europe and adopt the European system of values. It is not a coincidence that failure in this test overlapped with Turkey’s backtracking from the European path”, said the representative of Armenian Foreign Ministry.