YEREVAN. – It is good when the country has no problems with its neighbors, but this does not mean that we should sit on our hands unless preconditions are fulfilled, Armenian Prime Minister Karen Karapetyan said in an interview with Austrian radio.

“We want peace, but not at any cost, not at the expense of our independence and national dignity. We are ready for constructive negotiations, but if the opposite is not showing readiness, I think that we have alternatives for development of economy,” Karapetyan said, citing the example of Israel.

“Israel also has a lot of problems. It is not about the need to calm down and not to seek peace in our region. Of course, we must develop the economy under the conditions of existing restrictions,” he stressed.

In response to the remark that there is no such ‘outflow of brains’ in Israel as in Armenia, Karapetyan noted: “They also had a similar problem, but they have created conditions to solve the problem.”

As for the possibility of establishing peace with Azerbaijan and establishing relations with Turkey in the near future, Karen Karapetyan said: “We want peace on reasonable conditions. We are ready to be constructive, but I cannot predict how fast this will happen, as everything depends not on us only.”