“I would not rule out the possibility that, within certain international formats, their (Azerbaijan’s – ed.) president could come to Armenia, our country’s leader could go to them, and I am also ready to visit (Azerbaijan – ed.),” Speaker of the Armenian Parliament Alen Simonyan told reporters on October 22.

“But there are issues that need to be discussed beforehand. It’s not only a matter of security, but also of the detainees. It is difficult for us to go there knowing that people are still being held — both prisoners of war and hostages. I am optimistic, but we are not discussing this topic until there are concrete results,” he emphasized.

Simonyan noted that the atmosphere of his recent meeting with the Speaker of Azerbaijan’s Parliament “was even better than with many other international partners.”

He added that he saw the Azerbaijani Speaker’s genuine commitment to peace.

“We both want the conflict to be settled once and for all. They also want to have ‘all the documents’ for the future. There are no issues regarding Armenia’s Constitution. At the same time, Azerbaijan wants to make sure that in 10–20 years no third party, even an external one, can try to set the two former Soviet republics against each other again. My intention is the same,” Simonyan said.

He also stated that, according to Azerbaijan’s perception, “we are occupying 20% of their territory.”

“In order to build a dialogue, apart from shaping our own position, we must also understand the position of the other side. They believe that an international confrontation was provoked so that the collapse of the USSR would become a secondary topic, and as a result of that provocation, Armenian forces, with the support of Russian troops, captured 20–30% of their territory. That is their position. We may disagree with it, but we must know it in order to understand how to build a dialogue,” he emphasized.