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• Tug of war: Armenia threatens to recognize Karabakh if Azerbaijan renews hostilities

Azeri or Armenian both are children of greater Persia in the past .. from a picture you can not tell which is who .. reality is peace come with a price ,the future is not written how one writes it is there business Nagorno-Karabakh has been the home of all in the past why not now Azerbaijan are not Turkic by race they are closer to Armenians and Iranians by race and if the two lived in peace e...

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Armenia may choose to recognize the independence of Nagorno-Karabakh if Baku pulls out of the current peace talks and renews hostilities against the internationally unrecognized region, said the Armenian president’s spokesman Monday in response to the growing war rhetoric by senior officials in neighboring Azerbaijan.

Hours before the latest round of internationally mediated talks on Karabakh in Munich last Sunday, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev warned that if no marked progress was made in the resolution of the long-running conflict as a result of the planned meeting with President Serzh Sargsyan in Germany, Azerbaijan would be left with no option other than using force to try to return the breakaway Armenian region back under its control. “We have the full right to liberate our land by military means,” underscored Aliyev in remarks taken by many specialists and media as a sign that fragile peace between the two South Caucasus nation could be at risk.

U.S., French and Russian co-chairmen of the OSCE Minsk Group warned the sides against using threats and trading accusations.

“Our governments in Moscow, Washington and Paris are of the opinion that war is not an option,” said the Group’s French mediator Bernard Fassier.

Responding to the threats from the Azerbaijani side, Sargsyan’s spokesman Samvel Farmanyan said in a written statement published by the state-run Armenpress news agency on Monday that “the Republic of Armenia cannot remain indifferent to the fate of the people of Nagorno-Karabakh and has repeatedly stated through its president and other officials that it is responsible for the security of Nagorno-Karabakh’s people.”

“There are accepted forms in the world. Let’s assume that in the event of such developments Armenia may recognize the independence of Nagorno-Karabakh with all ensuing consequences,” said Farmanyan.

Furthermore, Farmanyan emphasized that Armenia has so far refrained from recognizing the independence of the NKR only “not to raise an obstacle to the continuing peace talks.”

“And if peace talks are disrupted and hostilities are unleashed, then nothing will stop Armenia from recognizing the independence of Nagorno-Karabakh,” said Farmanyan.

This position has been repeatedly stated also by governing parties in Armenia. They routinely explain to some opposition parties seeking an immediate recognition of Karabakh that such a move is “the last shot in Armenia’s diplomatic arsenal.”

Meanwhile, according to the international mediators, the parties to the process intend to continue their negotiations as “the two presidents instructed their foreign ministers to continue working with the Co-Chairs on these matters [remaining unresolved issues].

“As a next step, the Co-Chairs are organizing a working session with the two ministers in advance of the OSCE Ministerial Council, which will take place December 1-2 in Athens,” the OSCE Minsk Group troika said in their joint statement.