YEREVAN. – We, the Armenian party, need to drastically change our position in the negotiation process and make harsher addresses, since it is impossible to understand the “language” of Azerbaijan. 

Armenia’s former Deputy Defense Minister and former Deputy Prime Minister Vahan Shirkhanyan stated the aforesaid at a press conference on Saturday.

In his words, Armenia has a dishonest associate and neighboring country.  

“Azerbaijan should not be trusted as a negotiating party [in the Nagorno-Karabakh peace talks]. We [, the Armenian party,] need to draw appropriate conclusions; we need to drastically change our position in the negotiation process, [and] demand from Azerbaijan the recognition of the results of the [Karabakh] war and the acquisition of the corresponding status of Nagorno-Karabakh,” Shirkhanyan stressed.      

He added that continuing with the Azerbaijani “game” is impermissible for the Armenian side.  

“Why should we have [human] losses because of a dishonest associate?” Vahan Shirkhanyan asked.  

To note, Azerbaijan violated the ceasefire and shot down a Nagorno-Karabakh Republic (NKR; Artsakh) Air Force helicopter on Wednesday. The chopper was downed during a training flight, and it crashed nearby the Karabakh-Azerbaijan Line of Contact. As a result, three pilots are believed to have been killed: The commander of the helicopter, Major Sergey Sahakyan, and Senior Lieutenant Sargis Nazaryan and Lieutenant Azat Sahakyan. Information was disseminated some time thereafter, however, that a member of the helicopter crew may still be alive. The adversary, on the other hand, continues to fire intensive shots toward the crash site, thus, not allowing the Armenian side access to the area.