You are aware, of course, that after the first explosion of the Artsakh [(Nagorno-Karabakh)] [natural] gas pipeline, a 5-point proposal for normalization of relations between Armenia and Azerbaijan was conveyed to Armenia on March 10. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan stated this at Thursday’s Cabinet meeting of the government of Armenia.

"We responded very quickly—in writing, on March 14—to these proposals, and appealed to the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chair countries and asked to assist in the organization of peace talks between Armenia and Azerbaijan. And on March 21, the Armenian Foreign Minister voiced Armenia's general assessment of the proposals conveyed by Azerbaijan. This assessment is as follows: there is nothing unacceptable for us in the proposals conveyed by Azerbaijan on March 10, except that these proposals do not address all the issues on the Armenia-Azerbaijan comprehensive peace agenda.

With our response conveyed to the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs, we have completed the agenda and, therefore, we are ready for the start of peace talks on that basis. [But] on the evening of this position, Azerbaijan shuts the [natural] gas pipeline supplying [natural gas] to Artsakh. Note that Armenia states that the proposals submitted by Azerbaijan are acceptable to Armenia, whereas Azerbaijan shuts the gas pipeline. This is the biggest proof that Azerbaijan's policy is to divert us from the peace agenda," Pashinyan added.

The PM said that the radical opposition in Armenia is dissatisfied with their statement, criticizing them for agreeing to accept the principle of territorial integrity as a principle of normalization of relations with Azerbaijan.

"This criticism is more than strange because [Armenia’s then-President] Robert Kocharyan, who returned to Yerevan from the OSCE Istanbul Summit on November 19, 1999 and voted for the Charter for European Security defending the principle of territorial integrity, stated, in response to a reporter's question at Yerevan’s Zvartnots airport: ‘If we talk about territorial integrity in general, we should not say that we are against it. We also have a territory, and we also believe that this territory is needed to respect such a principle.'

After that, [next President] Serzh Sargsyan also negotiated for many years on the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict—accepting the principle of territorial integrity as well as a basic principle of settlement; so no speculation is appropriate here.

We believe that the Nagorno-Karabakh issue has not been an issue of territory, and is not such now either, but an issue of right, and we will consistently defend all the rights of the Armenians of Artsakh—[but] not disregarding the rights of other peoples because, as Serzh Sargsyan rightly noted, 'We are not fascists,'" Nikol Pashinyan said.