The issue of the rights and security of the people of the Artsakh Republic is one of our key goals, and it is very important that Armenia’s Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan very clearly emphasized this during yesterday's press conference. Artur Tovmasyan, the speaker of the Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) National Assembly, said this in an interview with the Artsakhpress news agency, and added that these two goals are united in the main goal of the people of Artsakh: the exercise of the right to self-determination and its full recognition.

"We understand very well that we are living in difficult times, and the processes taking place in our region can at any time lead to new military aggressions and unpredictable consequences. But to avoid them, we cannot ignore our vital interests. In that sense, the view of the Prime Minister of Armenia that in the peace treaty negotiations with official Baku, the current authorities of the Republic of Armenia are not going to give Azerbaijan a mandate to carry out [Armenian] ethnic cleansing or genocide against Artsakh was very important," said Tovmasyan, adding that the international community should also take a very clear and tough position on this issue.

Commenting on the information disseminated by the Azerbaijani president's office a few days ago that the representatives of the Artsakh authorities are invited to Azerbaijani capital Baku for a dialogue, Tovmasyan noted that the Artsakh authorities have never avoided contacts with the Azerbaijani authorities.

"The issue is that the agenda proposed by Baku is not acceptable for us. Unfortunately, the previous contacts, despite the agreements, did not provide any results regarding the matters on the agenda. Moreover, after them, the Azerbaijani armed forces carried out a terrorist operation in the territory of Artsakh on March 5, as a result of which three [Artsakh] policemen were killed and one policeman was injured. If the ‘results’ of contacts should be such, then it is more preferable not to meet," concluded Tovmasyan.