YEREVAN. – Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev’s response that there is no “people of Karabakh” once again proves that, unlike the Armenian parties, Azerbaijan is not constructive and, in essence, it doesn’t want a pacific resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh (Artsakh) conflict. Ruben Rubinyan, a member of the majority My Step faction at the National Assembly (NA) of Armenia and Chairman of the NA Standing Committee on Foreign Relations, on Friday noted this speaking with reporters in parliament.

“The prime minister of the Republic of Armenia has stated that the conflict can only have a pacific resolution, and if we want to reach such a resolution, both the people of Armenia, the people of Artsakh, and the people of Azerbaijan need to agree on that resolution,” Rubinyan said. “He [the Armenian PM] was expecting that the other party [Azerbaijan] would accept this fact as well, as it’s impossible to reach any resolution without the consent of the parties [to this conflict]. But Aliyev’s response shows that he doesn’t accept this formula, and therefore doesn’t want a pacific resolution to the conflict. I believe the international partners will take note of that and draw conclusions.”

Asked what Armenia’s response will be, he stated: “Our step in response is to continuously advance our positions, to act in the logic of peace, to continuously strengthen our army, defense system.”

And to the remark that Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov had stated that the Armenian PM’s statement that “Artsakh is Armenia—period” does not contribute to the formation of an appropriate climate for the resumption of the political process, Rubinyan said that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Armenia has already responded to it.

“Armenia sees the negotiation process with the logic which the prime minister of the Republic of Armenia has presented from the UN rostrum,” he added. “I have nothing more to say.”