Very often, on our public platforms, it is presented as an alarm that the Armenian government is going to sign some paper. I want to assure that if we have a situation where we are 2-3 days away from signing some paper, that is actually very good news, not bad news. Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan stated this during his press conference today.

According to him, the aforesaid means that Armenia has made progress in the negotiation processes and has reached a result that is not the result of Armenia’s dreams, but which is nevertheless a result that should ensure long-term peace, stability, and development.

"Is there a document? You know that in the middle of February, we had sent our regular feedback on the possible draft of the peace treaty to Azerbaijan, and 2-3 days ago we received Azerbaijan's feedback on our draft.

Is there progress in the document? We see some progress. But the more progress we see, the more fundamental problems emerge. First, we see that Azerbaijan is trying to formulate territorial demands or aspirations of Armenia through a possible agreement on establishing peace, establishing relations. That's a red line for us.

Next, we see that with the proposals of that text, Azerbaijan is trying to obtain a mandate to carry out [Armenian] genocide or ethnic cleansing in Nagorno-Karabakh, including under the signature of Armenia. It is naturally also a red line for us.

Next, we also see that Azerbaijan pursues such a line that we don't even have a system of guarantees for the execution of the signed treaty, which is also a red line for us because today we have a written, signed document that is not implemented. It’s about the tripartite statement of November 9[, 2020]. According to that statement, the Lachin corridor should not have been closed, but it is closed [by Azerbaijan]. This further emphasizes that any document that will be signed must have guarantees of implementation, preferably international. All that is absent," Pashinyan declared.

As for the people of Nagorno-Karabakh, the Armenian Prime Minister said. "We have said that the issue of the rights and security of the Nagorno-Karabakh people is extremely important for us, it is one of our key goals. Our perception is as follows that it would be right for the people of Nagorno-Karabakh to be the primary mandate holder of this issue. We believe that the main conversation should take place between Baku and Stepanakert. The processes lead us to the conclusion that it will not be possible to move forward without international mechanisms and guarantees because in Munich, the president of Azerbaijan said that there is an agreement that the issue of the rights and guarantees of Karabakh Armenians should be discussed. After that, meetings were held at the headquarters of the [Russian] peacekeeping forces in Nagorno-Karabakh. After those meetings, it suddenly became clear that Azerbaijan offers to discuss the issue of integration. The problem is not the words, but the content, and it is Azerbaijan's practice of not keeping them continuously.

And the scope of security and rights of the people of Nagorno-Karabakh, by and large, the people and the government of Nagorno-Karabakh should decide themselves," he said.