Today The RA Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan received in the Government the delegation led by the Speaker of the National Assembly of the Artsakh Republic Arthur Tovmasyan. In his speech, Pashinyan, in particular, noted:
"Recently, the Azerbaijani leadership has been trying to accuse us of aborting the talks, with the logic that we have made statements that make the talks meaningless.
I want to state clearly that the position of Armenia and Artsakh is very constructive. I would like to emphasize again that after assuming the post of the Prime Minister of Armenia I have made an unprecedented statement about our reality and the whole history of the conflict in general, saying that any solution to the Artsakh issue must be acceptable for the people of Armenia, the people of Azerbaijan and the people of Artsakh. I expected that this statement would find an adequate response among the Azerbaijani leadership, which would provide a great opportunity to record a breakthrough in the negotiations.
But what was Azerbaijan's reaction, that the Karabakh issue can be resolved only within the framework of Azerbaijan's territorial integrity?. In essence, this statement means that Azerbaijan, as a precondition, proposes a resolution on the settlement of the Karabakh conflict, the point of which is to return to the status quo of 1988. So the question is, how can a conflict be resolved by going back to its roots?”.
"We have always said that one should not speak to Armenia in the language of force and threat. It is pointless. Many thought this was just rhetoric, but the events of July showed that what we were saying was 100% true.
I have also publicly said that our position is the following: there is no solution to the Karabakh issue by force. If the Karabakh issue has a solution by force, then the people of Artsakh will say, we have solved that issue long ago, that's all, what else are we discussing. But we say - no. We agree that a lasting and stable peace must be established in the region, and we are proposing a resolution for that. This is the personal responsibility of the leaders of Azerbaijan, Armenia and Artsakh, and we must work hard to find a solution that is acceptable to the people of Armenia, to the people of Artsakh, to the people of Azerbaijan. But unfortunately, the Azerbaijani leadership continues to go the old way".
The Artsakh National Assembly Speaker Artur Tovmasyan thanked the RA Prime Minister for the warm reception and once again congratulated him on the 29th anniversary of Armenia's Independence.
