I thanked Prime Minister Fiala for supporting Armenia's democracy; in that context, I emphasized the Czech Republic's support for the decision to deploy a long-term monitoring mission of the EU along the border with Azerbaijan in the territory of Armenia. Armenian PM Nikol Pashinyan stated this during Thursday’s joint press conference in Prague with Czech premier Petr Fiala.

"I regret to say that despite all efforts, the situation in our region remains tense. The reason for this is that, despite the known agreements, Azerbaijan continues the policy of using force and the threat of force—constantly escalating the situation on the border with Armenia, in Nagorno-Karabakh, and in the Lachin corridor," Pashinyan said, in particular.

He added that the international community should give a clear and addressed assessment of the aforesaid situation.

"Especially since, in our opinion, these actions of Azerbaijan are preparations for carrying out ethnic cleansing of Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh. In this context, we consider it necessary to send an international fact-finding team to Nagorno-Karabakh and the Lachin corridor.

 "At the same time, despite all the difficulties, the Armenian government has adopted a peace agenda. We believe that peace in our region has no alternative, and is not only a goal, but also a means for the normalization and further development of relations between peoples and countries.

"We are fully engaged in the negotiation process with Azerbaijan and will remain engaged in the near future, being prepared to record results and not to negotiate for the sake of negotiating.

"In order to achieve this goal, we hope that Azerbaijan will abandon the policy of using force and the threat of force, and we expect that the international community will also issue a similar message addressed to Azerbaijan," the Armenian premier emphasized.