YEREVAN.- Azerbaijan is the only responsible party for lack of progress in the Karabakh peace process and for maintaining of the status quo. The international community is well aware of this, Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian said.

Minister Nalbandian responded to the Armenian News-NEWS.am question regarding Azerbaijani officials’ claims that Armenia is responsible for the status quo and Yerevan must make unilateral concessions.  

“If Azerbaijan is in fact interested in changes in status quo, they should have given consent to the proposals of the Co-Chairs instead of rejecting them over the last few years.

Of course, Armenia and Azerbaijan can not be rivals in the fields of democracy, tolerance, human rights, economic freedom, freedom of expression and media as well as other fundamental aspects of our society. The logic and orientation of our states and societies are oppositely different,” he said.

The Minister noted that Azerbaijan is strengthening authoritarian regime, while Armenia is strengthening democracy. It is clearly seen in the assessments and rankings issued by the international agencies.

“There is a huge difference between Armenia and Azerbaijan,” he said.

Azerbaijani officials believe they can buy reputation, friends, and erect monuments, push forward questionable resolutions and present this to the Azerbaijani society as an achievement and as proof of high reputation.

“It is not the money and caviar that helps to build international reputation. We have recently witnessed what happened with not less rich and self-confident authoritarian regimes,” Nalbandian added.