If Baku is really for the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict to be settled, but not for the status quo to be maintained, it must stop pursuing its policy, RA Deputy Foreign Minister Shavarsh Kocharyan stated in an interview with the Armenian Public TV.

Commenting on Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan’s speech at the OSCE Summit in Astana, he said: “First of all, I would like to single out the part of his speech that says Armenia will spare no efforts to defend the Artsakh people. In this aspect, it was a most clear and unequivocal statement. The mention of de jure recognition carries another implication: we de facto recognized Nagorno-Karabakh long ago, and our relations with Artsakh are relations of equal states.” According to him, the Armenian leader’s speech was aimed to shift the issue from the purely political onto the legal plane. “I think that, by and large, the Summit, revealing Azerbaijan’s isolation, proved a serious signal for Baku to put an end to its destructive policy if they really want a settlement,” Sh. Kocharyan said.