The warlike atmosphere established as a result of non-constructive actions of the Azerbaijani authorities is what disrupts the negotiations on Nagorno Karabakh, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said at a Q&A session at the National Assembly.
The comments come after Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev’s claims that “Armenian PM Nikol Pashinyan is trying to disrupt the negotiation process with contradicting statements on Nagorno Karabakh.”
“I have said on many occasions that I’m ready to participate in negotiations on Nagorno Karabakh,” Pashinyan stated.
The Prime Minister reiterated his stance that he is eligible to talk on behalf of Armenia only. “As Prime Minister of Armenia, I do not consider myself eligible to talk on behalf of Artsakh, because I’m neither the President, nor the Prime Minister of Artsakh,” PM Pashinyan said.
He pointed to the fact that the people of the Republic of Artsakh do not participate in the process of formation of the Armenian authorities. “They hold their own elections, they have their own government, their own President who is eligible to negotiate on behalf of the Nagorno Karabkh Republic.”
“There is nothing sensational in what I’m saying, because even the statements of the heads of the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairing countries highlight the need for the free expression of will of the Artsakh people for the determination of is final status. This actually comes to indicate the fact of Artsakh being a party to the talks.”
Therefore, he said the issue cannot be solved without the participation of one of the parties.
“We are even ready to participate in negotiations for the sake of negotiations. But we’ll not come any closer to the settlement of the conflict unless Artsakh’s representative gets involved in the talks.
Spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Tigran Balayan earlier described Aliyev’s claims as “surprising.”
