Below is an interview Masis Mailyan, Chairman of the Public Council for Foreign Policy and Security, Nagorno-Karabakh Republic (NKR), gave NEWS.am

Question: What are your expectations from the upcoming five-sided meeting in Almaty?

Answer: It is a regular meeting on the margins of another international event. The OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs normally take the opportunities to organize meetings between the Armenian and Azerbaijani Presidents or Foreign Ministers on the margins of such forums. I do not have any special expectations from the upcoming meeting in Kazakhstan.

Question: How would you comment on the statements recently made by Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov?

Answer: Azerbaijan’s apparently willing to get back the territories lost during the war step by step. Official Baku would be satisfied with such developments. The more so because it was Azerbaijan that unleashed the war, Azeri troops occupied more than 50% of the Nagorno-Karabakh territories at the initial stage of the war and the Armenian population was subjected to ethnic cleansing. That is, Azerbaijan seeks a bonus – return of the lost territories – instead of the punishment it deserves.

I think neither Armenia nor the NKR must discuss the issue of territories. At the full-format negotiations with the NKR’s participation it is only the issue of fixing the borders that can be discussed.

Moreover, any attempts by official Baku and by the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs to get unilateral territorial concessions from the NKR is a risky experience, as well as a gross violation of the international practice of fixing the borders between newly formed states.

Question: What, in your opinion, should be Armenia’s next step in the Nagorno-Karabakh peace process?

Answer: Necessary conditions must be created for settling the conflict. Therefore, on the one hand, Armenia must seek the signing of a trilateral agreement on nonuse of force. On the other hand, Yerevan and Stepanakert, using the Diaspora’s potential, must be active to get the NKR internationally recognized.

Thus, ruling out a military way of resolving the conflict, and equalizing the international status of Azerbaijan and NKR, will create the necessary conditions for a breakthrough in the negotiations and long-term stability in the region.