Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan today received the delegation led by Speaker of the National Assembly of Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) Artur Tovmasyan, who is on an official visit to Armenia. Among the attendees were leader of the My Step faction of the National Assembly of Armenia Lilit Makunts and the faction’s secretary Hakob Simidyan.
In his opening remarks, Prime Minister Pashinyan stated the following:
I am very happy for this meeting. This is the first visit of such a representative delegation of Artsakh to Armenia following the elections held in Artsakh. I am also glad to state that a new sweep has been brought to the partnership between Armenia and Artsakh and that there is a very high level of confidence.
You know that, unfortunately, the situation in the region is very tense. In essence, our objective is to make the process of negotiations effective. Recently, Azerbaijan’s leadership has been trying to blame us for leading the negotiations to failure, saying that Armenia has made and is making statements that make the negotiations pointless.
I would like to clearly state that the position of both Armenia and Artsakh is strictly constructive. I would also like to emphasize that after I assumed the office of Prime Minister of Armenia, I made an unprecedented statement in the history of the conflict by stating that any solution to the Artsakh issue must be acceptable for the peoples of Armenia, Azerbaijan and Artsakh, and I expected that the elite of Azerbaijan would respond to this statement adequately, but Azerbaijan responded by saying that the Karabakh issue may only be solved within the scope of Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity.
I would like to emphasize that all of our statements are our adequate response to Azerbaijan’s destructive statements. Once again, I would like to clearly state that Azerbaijan was trying to make the following logic underlie the negotiations: make unilateral concessions or Azerbaijan will resolve the issue by force.
Right from the start, we have stated that there is no need to speak to Armenia in the language of force and threats. Many thought this was just a rhetoric, but the events in July showed that what we say is 100% accurate. Once again, our position is that the Karabakh issue has no military solution. We agree that there has to be longstanding and sustainable peace in the region, and for that we are offering any solution. This is the personal responsibility of the leaders of Azerbaijan, Armenia and Artsakh, and we need to work hard to find a solution that will be acceptable for the peoples of Armenia, Artsakh and Azerbaijan. Unfortunately, Azerbaijan’s leadership continues to take the old path and has added a new component. Recently, Azerbaijan’s leadership and media have introduced a new component, stating the so-called disclosure of confidential information. I advise my Azerbaijani colleagues to not take this path because if we enter that field and start disseminating confidential information, I fear that the domestic political situation will become desperately instable in Azerbaijan. I hope the President of Azerbaijan will eventually respond and say that he agrees that any solution to the Karabakh issue must be acceptable for the peoples of Azerbaijan, Armenia and Artsakh, and this will mean that we have an opportunity to see a breakthrough in the negotiations.
Once again, I am glad to see you. If you have any questions, I will be glad to answer them.
Speaker of the National Assembly of Artsakh Artur Tovmasyan expressed gratitude to the Prime Minister for the cordial reception, congratulated the Prime Minister on the 29th anniversary of Armenia’s independence again and highly appreciated the level of partnership between Armenia and Artsakh. He also underscored the fact that the National Assembly of Artsakh won’t spare efforts to strengthen and deepen Armenia-Artsakh-Diaspora relations.
During the meeting, the Prime Minister answered the deputies’ questions related to the negotiations over the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, the strengthening of the Armenia-Artsakh-Diaspora triumvirate, the reforms underway in various sectors and the pan-national goals and objectives.
