"Karabakh conflict cannot be settled, unless Artsakh participates in the negotiations," Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) Republic President Bako Sahakyan said in an interview with Artsakh Public Television and "Mediaton" company.
"There is no potential scenario for the solution of this issue without our involvement. Nothing like this will happen," Sahakyan said.
"Artsakh will reach involvement in the negotiation process as a full-fledged party," the president said.
President noted that despite this approach, negotiations in incomplete format are still preferable for them than military actions, which doesn't mean, however, that they are abandoning their stance. Bako Sahakyan also mentioned that at this moment there is no possibility for talks.
"What Azerbaijan has permitted itself, in no way speaks of the possibility of our returning to the negotiation table in near future," he said.
Sahakyan said that Stepanakert takes intro account all the militaristic statements from Baku and stands ready to repel Azerbaijan's encroachments.
"We took into account Baku's threats to bomb Stepanakert and immediately prepared for such scenario. Casting doubt on their goals means to be labor under a misapprehension. The child killed in shelling near his school, the beheaded bodies of our boys, the elderly people that were shot dead in their own house, and other atrocities of the Azerbaijani army show that they seek to behead all of us, desecrate the tombs of our ancestors, rape our wives and sisters. Consequently, I think we ought to assess their actions adequately and take steps on the basis of that cold truth," Sahakyan said.
The NKR President said he had ordered to put on alert the air-defense missile weapon systems, multiple artillery rocket systems, and long-range missile systems to use them when necessary.