Azerbaijan wants to present the Stepanakert-Baku negotiations as an intra-Azerbaijani dialogue; that is, some “criminals”—that is, us—should go [to Baku] and say: “forgive us, we are becoming your citizens.” David Babayan, advisor to the Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) President and former foreign minister of Artsakh, told this to Armenian News-NEWS.am, referring to Azerbaijan's statement that they are ready to "hold regular meetings with the Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh".

"Baku wants to discuss the issue of integration. They set a precondition that makes any meetings impossible. Sincere interest in the settlement of the conflict, then the meetings should be held in a different format. And that is simply putting pressure on us, starving us, and then achieving their goal. We see [that] the world is apathetic and does not take any steps to improve this shameful situation," said Babayan.

He believes that, unlike other countries, Azerbaijan has a peculiarity: it doesn't lie. It says, “We are coming to massacre you, that is our goal.” If anyone stands up and says “Artsakh is Armenian,” then he will be imprisoned for life at best.

"The main component of saying ‘reintegration’ is to starve the people of Artsakh and make people who have already been desperate come and kneel in front of them and say ‘we agree to everything.’ I don't think that the meetings will lead to a positive outcome because everything will be clear from the first meeting. And there are cases when it is better not to meet than to meet because after that the situation will be more complicated. Imagine that during the meeting, Azerbaijan presents an ultimatum, then the meeting fails. What should we do? Everything will be worse," emphasized David Babayan.

Azerbaijan MFA official: We are ready to hold meetings with Karabakh Armenians