YEREVAN.- Establishment of comprehensive peace and stability in the region is our main task. But for the solution of this problem it is necessary to lay the foundation for the correct formulas, said Armenian Prime minister Nikol Pashinyan, speaking at the special congress of the Yerkrapah Union of Volunteer Land Defenders (UVLD), held in the sessions hall of the Government on 7 April.

“Establishment of comprehensive peace and stability cannot be the responsibility of one or two parties of the Karabakh conflict, this responsibility is equally shared by all three parties of the conflict. This is a shared responsibility, teamwork. And I discussed these questions, this idea during the meeting with Ilham Aliyev in Vienna on March 29. And I announced our version of achieving peace on March 12 during a joint meeting of the Security Councils of Armenia and Artsakh. During the negotiations in Vienna, that was the main topic of discussion. In this regard, there is a certain misunderstanding that I would like to clarify.

It is said that the Armenian government demands a change in the format of the negotiations, and our neighbors represent with a victory the fact that the format change did not happen. I want to clearly state that Armenia has never raised the issue of changing the format of the negotiations on the Karabakh settlement. The government of Armenia raised the issue of restoring the format. Namely, the negotiations on the Karabakh settlement should be held in the format of the OSCE Minsk Group. From the first minute of its appearance, the OSCE MG format implied the involvement and participation of an elected representative of Nagorno-Karabakh in the negotiation process.

Karabakh participated in the negotiation process not only until 1998, but also after that. After 1998, Armenia was represented at the talks by Robert Kocharian and Serzh Sargsyan, who essentially represented Karabakh, as they were elected representatives of Karabakh. And in this sense, they had a full mandate. Therefore, today the negotiation process should continue according to the same logic.

If we hold talks without a representative of Karabakh, it means that we are talking about anything, except settlement of the conflict as in such a format it is not serious to talk about resolving the conflict, ”he said.

Speaking about the Madrid principles, Pashinyan noted that for him, as a person who was recently involved in the negotiation process, it is necessary to get a clear explanation of what these principles are in practice. 

“What are the consequences of the negotiations based on these negotiations. In Vienna, I did not get a clear answer to this question. Only after I get a clear answer we will clearly say how acceptable these principles are for us. It is said that the biggest advantage of the Madrid principles is that each of the parties can comment on them as they want. This is not serious, ”said Pashinyan.