YEREVAN. – Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) has no future within Azerbaijan; such a step will only mean that Karabakh will be left without Armenians. Foreign Minister Zohrab Mnatsakanyan stated this during the debates on the 2021 draft budget of Armenia at Thursday’s joint meeting of the National Assembly Standing Committees on Financial-Credit and Budgetary Affairs and on Foreign Relations.

The Minister added that the aforesaid emphasizes the national goal of all Armenians. Mnatsakanyan said he does not believe that any Armenian can accept the idea that his compatriots in Artsakh—the 150,000 defenders of national identity—may be subjected to any risk. "All our national resources, in all respects, are directed to it. And it is very important for us to work together and purposefully to pursue and achieve that goal," the Armenian FM stressed.