YEREVAN. – Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) was not participating in the meeting in Vienna two days, since Azerbaijan did not want that, ruling Republican Party of Armenia (RPA) MP Artak Davtyan said at a press conference on Wednesday.

“Azerbaijan has removed Artsakh from the negotiation process by blackmail,” he said. “And the blackmail as follows: it will come out; it will do nothing at all.”

To the remark by opposition Free Democrats Party Vice-chairwoman Anush Sedrakyan, who stated that the Azerbaijani side has violated the status quo and it should be punished for this, the RPA deputy responded: “We [i.e. the Armenian side] will punish [Azerbaijan] by obligating that Artsakh return to the negotiating table. And the one to punish shall be the [Armenian] army.”

As per Artak Davtyan, although the Armenian side wishes that Nagorno-Karabakh becomes a party to negotiations again, when you speak with the opposite party, you need to consider its view, too.

“If you don’t take its view into account, this meeting [in Vienna, and between the presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan,] would not have taken place,” he added. “What was stated previously, happened.”