On October 18, Armenian President Armen Sarkissian stated that the republic’s authorities are ready to recognize the independence of Nagorno-Karabakh if they understand that “Azerbaijan, supported by Turkey, will not go through negotiations.”
In response, Ilgar Mammadov, a deputy of the Azerbaijani opposition party REAL, said that if Yerevan takes this step, then Baku may consider the issue of recognizing one of the Azerbaijani organizations or their union as an independent state acting on behalf of refugees from Zangezur and other refugees from Armenia …
Before the start of the Karabakh conflict, there were much more Azerbaijanis in Zangezur than there were Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh, ”Ilgar Mammadov explained, his words are quoted by the haqqin.az resource.