The Armenian PM has been saying that the solution that we have to achieve has to be acceptable to the people of Armenia, the people of Nagorno-Karabakh and the people of Azerbaijan and Armenia has waiting from Azerbaijan a signal, a message which refers to its interests, said Armenian Foreign Minister Zohrab Mnatsakanyan in an interview to BBC HardTalk’s Stephen Sackur.

“Sergei Lavrov, the Russian FM, after this rather extraordinary straight statement by your Prime Minister just a couple of months ago, who said that the sides are making statements, a serious one, that Karabakh is Armenia, he said “It's the same as if the Prime Minister of Albania said from Tirana that Kosovo is Albania”. So even the Russians are now saying that your position is unacceptable,” said Stephen Sackur.

The FM, in his turn, noted that “at the moment, we also have to figure out the way in which we can press our biggest priority, the security of the people.”

Asked whether the Armenian side regrets some of the things that were done by the Armenian troops in the past, the Armenian Foreign Minister noted: “Because you know, in the beginning of 90-s there was a situation when 40% of the population of Nagorno-Karabakh was wiped out, 40% of the territory of the Nagorno-Karabakh has been taken control of, there have been abuses, there have been violations in the most outrageous way.”

“We have a situation, let me finish, when the government of Azerbaijan has gone so far as glorifying the murder of an Armenian. Not long ago, there was a situation when in 2016, Azerbaijan attempted again an aggression against Nagorno-Karabakh, that only amplifies our sense of security now. Referring to your specific question, yes, I accept that we need to move forward all together. All of us. But it takes every party to engage in a constructive way. This is what the Prime Minister was saying - a solution is acceptable to all. We are waiting for the message from Azerbaijan to reciprocate, so that spirit does get the foundation in our move forward,” he said.

Commenting on the ceasefire violations at the contact line, Mnatsakanyan said: “This is what we are absolutely focused on. I think, you know, over this time since our government stepped in, and that’s another very good indication of the seriousness of purpose on our side, as the government of Armenia, as the new government of Armenia, that you know, we have managed to establish some sort of trust, some sort of confidence in which over this year there has been considerable reduction of ceasefire violations, and we’re absolutely focused on sustaining and consolidating that. That is one of our priorities, and in fact, that is what we have been focused on and continued to work with the Azeri government, with the authorities in Nagorno-Karabakh. So that’s a very important part of the negotiation process.”