Azerbaijani leaders say they want Karabakh to be a part of Azerbaijan but at the same time refuse to negotiate with the people of Karabakh, which is a very strange position, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said during the Paris Peace Forum.

Pashinyan spoke about security environment and contemporary challenges that Armenia is facing. He emphasized that Baku is rejecting direct negotiations with Karabakh even in the format of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs.

“Azerbaijani government is claiming that Karabakh should be a part of Azerbaijan - a very strange position. It is impossible to understand why Azerbaijani government is going to put Karabakh into its territory without negotiating with them. The leaders of Azerbaijan say they want Karabakh to be a part of their country but refuse to negotiate with the people. What could it mean? They want territories, not people, territories without people,” Pashinyan said. “They will not be able to provide any security guarantees for the people. A very concrete proof is that anyone having Armenian family name is banned from entering Azerbaijan.”

Pashinyan cited several examples of such behavior: a journalist from Bloomberg musician from Turkish orchestra, an 8-year-old girl who were banned because of their Armenian names. He also mentioned the recent incident when an Azerbaijani driver who was arrested because of listening to the Armenian song as well as incident with Arsenal midfielder Henrikh Mkhitaryan and a fan wearing his T-shirt.