Azerbaijan continues voicing military threats which makes speeded-up settlement of conflict impossible: Pashinyan

There can be no military solution to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and we must create corresponding atmosphere for reaching peace, Armenia’s Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said, in response to the question of the member of the Council of Europe Foreign Relations Committee.

“In September I have made an unprecedented statement in the parliament that the settlement of the conflict must be acceptable for Armenian people, Artsakh people and Azerbaijani people and I hoped that such like statement will be voiced from Azerbaijan, by the president of that country, but unfortunately these hopes were not justified. Just on the contrary,  Azerbaijan continues voicing threats stating that they are ready for the military solution without taking into consideration the interests of peoples of Nagorno Karabakh and Armenia. I think in these conditions it is difficult to expect speeded-up resolution of the issue,” Pashinyan said.

He said the issue of the format of negotiations is also important.

“It has been internationally accepted that the Karabakh conflict has three sides which was fixed at the OSCE Summit in 1994. But till now, unfortunately only two sides are involved in the talks with Armenia and Azerbaijan negotiating without participation of Nagorno Karabakh. This happened because of the circumstance that the former two presidents of Armenia were Karabakh-born and they considered that they could represent Nagorno-Karabakh as well. While I am Prime Minister of Armenia and not Nagorno Karabakh. People of Karabakh are not participating in the elections in Armenia and are not citizens of Armenia, thus I cannot negotiate on their behalf. The second side of the issue is that it is necessary to create such format of negotiations which will involve Nagorno-Karabakh in the talks,” the PM said.