Armenia has never refused to negotiate on the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, Yerevan being ready to discuss the possibility of a new high-level meeting if Baku implements the agreements reached during the previous meetings.

President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan told the aforementioned in an interview with Spanish EFE agency, touching on the prospects for the normalization of relations with Azerbaijan.

“We have never refused negotiations, including high-level meetings. We want the agreements reached during the previous meetings to be implemented at least partially only after which we are ready to think of a new meeting. Why meet if the already reached agreements are not implemented?

As an example, I can tell about the recent meetings in Vienna and Saint Petersburg. We agreed to create a mechanism for investigating the ceasefire violation cases in order to reduce the tension on the contact line. This would also serve as a basis for the further talks. But unfortunately this agreement was not implemented. Moreover, two weeks after the meeting in Vienna, Azerbaijan stated that these statements were made by the Minsk Group Co-Chairs and that Baku had nothing to do with them,” the President said.

Referring to the question on the recognition of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic (NKR/Artsakh) independence by Yerevan, Sargsyan said that Armenia doesn’t do this in order to continue the negotiation process. 

“Armenia is taking part in these negotiations, since Azerbaijan doesn’t want to enter into dialogue with Karabakh. Neverthjeless, Karabakh is taking part in the negotiation process, since the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs regularly visit Karabakh and inform the Karabakh authorities on the process. Imagine what will happen if in the current conditions Armenia recognizes the independence of Nagorno-Karabakh. This will put an end to the talks. As you know, war is an alternative to the negotiations,” Sargsyan noted.

However, according to him, everything depends on a specific situation. Armenia can change its position. “I have repeatedly said that if Azerbaijan resumes large-scale military actions in Nagorno-Karabakh, we will immediately recognize the independence of Karabakh, since Armenia is the guarantor of the NKR people’s independence,” the Armenian leader said.  

In his words, the policy of Azerbaijan is very clear: It is trying to maintain the tense situation and put pressure on Armenia and Karabakh.

The tension reached its climax last April, when the Azerbaijanis launched an outright offense in several directions. Consequently, both the Armenian and Azerbaijani sides suffered losses. The military actions served as a basis for the meeting in Vienna, the President stressed.

''The situation hasn’t improved; it continues to remain tense. After these events we realized we should always be vigilant on the line of contact and buy more modern arms in order to fix any movement of the adversary. The Azerbaijanis didn’t think they would suffer so many losses, and realized that they are not so strong to solve the issue in a short term,” Sargsyan concluded, adding that it is unlikely to expect large-scale military actions in the near future, but it is always necessary to be ready for them.