Azerbaijan will not be able to carry out ethnic cleansing in Nagorno-Karabakh; Armenia will not allow it. The Speaker of the Parliament of Armenia announced during the briefing in the National Assembly. Alen Simonyan emphasized that Yerevan uses all international levers in this matter. Referring to the question of whether the peace treaty is realistic and whether the provisions included in it will be implemented, Simonyan emphasized that an international guarantor and guarantees are needed for this.
“Negotiations are going on quite intensively, both proposals and discussions are yielding results on both sides, and we agree with the wording on the one hand, and the Azerbaijani side on the other hand, however, I am full of hope that at the moment I see that there is progress,” said Simonyan.
Referring to the statement of Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov, by which he rejected Armenia's demand to provide special security guarantees for around 120 thousand ethnic Armenians living in Nagorno-Karabakh before the new round of peace negotiations, Armenia’s Speaker Alen Simonyan said. “I think that this statement harms the Azerbaijani side, because in the case of such realities, they do not solve the issue that has been the cause of the problem for decades. It is an escape from reality, it will not be a solution to the issue, and it is not in favor for them that these issues are not discussed. I am sure they will come to it at some stage, even now, I think it's just to set a high bar before the negotiations and then backtrack as an initial stage of negotiations. It's my impression and my opinion.”
The issue of the rights and security of Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh is important because the matter cannot simply be forgotten, otherwise the issue won’t be resolved, Simonyan said in response to Azerbaijan rejecting extra guarantees for the Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh.
“I think this statement is damaging the Azerbaijani side itself. The issue won’t be resolved in case of such realities. This is an escape from reality, they don’t want these issues to be discussed. I am sure that they will come to this at some phase. Even now, I think this is being done for placing a high scale before the negotiations and using it during the talks. This is my impression,” Simonyan said.
Asked to clarify whether or not he believes Azerbaijan would eventually agree to launch an international mechanism for its direct dialogue with Nagorno-Karabakh, Simonyan said: “The issue of the rights and security of Armenians living in Nagorno-Karabakh is important because this issue cannot simply be forgotten. This is self deception. If Azerbaijan is ready to engage in self-deception, Armenia is not. We will adhere to what we have announced.”
Simonyan found it difficult to say whether the mechanisms will be included in the peace treaty or will become a separate document.
"In the peace treaty, I don't know if that part will be included or if it will be a separate document. Because we talked about it, concrete guarantees are needed, because we have, for example, in the case of November 9, that the conditions are not being met, and a guarantee as such country does not act or is unable to act. I'm not sure now that we should put it in the peace treaty, and not in some other document where a country or a few countries would be guarantors. So I want to say that if the issue was not discussed, if it was not included, if the issue was not resolved, then that at least most of the negotiations can be considered meaningless talk," said Simonyan.
