Azerbaijan’s new aggression against Nagorno-Karabakh in April 2016 caused considerable damage to the negotiation process and the efforts to rebuild trust between the sides.

The President of Armenia, Serzh Sargsyan, noted the aforementioned in an article published by Izvestia newspaper of Russia.

“Being a guarantor of the safety of the population of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic [(NKR/Republic of Artsakh)], Armenia continues the consistent and constructive efforts toward seeking avenues for the [Karabakh] conflict’s pacific settlement, with the format of the co-chairs of the OSCE [i.e. the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe] Minsk Group,” the Armenian President stressed, in particular. “In contrast to other conflicts, the continuous consensus of the positions of Russia, the US, and France in the settlement of the Karabakh conflict enables to consider the OSCE Minsk Group troika co-chairmanship as an effective platform for constructive dialogue between these states.

“Those in Baku need to ultimately understand that Armenia and the co-chair countries speak in one language: there is no alternative to negotiations in a civilized world; war is not the way for resolving the problem.

“The people’s right to determine their own destiny is an integral part of the modern world order; and the Karabakh conflict shall be resolved on this very basis. At the same time, we need to consider the assessment by the international experts’ community, which believes that democratic state-building is consistently implemented in the Republic of Artsakh.”