A two day conference entitled "Armenian-Turkish Relations and the Artsakh Issue" was held today in Stepanakert. NKR President Bako Sahakyan addressed the summit organized by the ARF and the "Pyunik Foundation". Archbishop Bargev Martirosyan, Primate of the Artsakh Diocese, welcomed the attendees and offered the opening benediction. Some 130 participants from twenty-five countries have traveled to Artsakh to attend. In his remarks, President Sahakyan stressed that any decision reached without the participation of the NKR is unacceptable and will never be implemented. Below are several of the more noteworthy excerpts of President Sahakyan's address: Our position has been is clear-cut and unchangeable. The independence of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic is an accomplished fact and is not is not a subject to discussions. Any attempt to present the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic within the framework of Azerbaijani territorial integrity is both incomprehensible and unacceptable for us. This neglects natural development of history and life, as well as contradicts the realities of the past. Since the proclamation of independence we have stood behind the path of our choice, successfully defending the borders of Artsakh, building and strengthening our state, efficiently overcoming difficulties on the way of recreating and developing the country. As the result the world has got convinced that it deals with a full-fledged state and society, which has all the necessary attributes of statehood, embarked on the path of democracy. For this very reason we do not consider the restoration of the full-fledged negotiation format as an additional pretext to remind us about our existence because this format is indeed a deficient one. Artsakh, being the main party to the Azerbaijani-Karabakh conflict, is now out of the negotiations and we should restore this important principle. Without the consent of the people of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic any decision will be impossible to implement.