Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has underscored Yerevan's commitment to negotiations and dialogue to resolve the Karabakh conflict.
During a news conference aired by Public TV on 19 March, Pashinyan reiterated Armenia's position on the involvement of the Karabakh authorities in peace talks. He said this stance was not new for Azerbaijan and the OSCE Minsk Group Co-chairs, who mediate a peaceful solution to the conflict.
"It is the same agenda that was formulated in May 2018. And we continue serving this agenda. … As I have already stated, it is not a whim or a pre-condition on our part. We will continue discussions on this issue with our [Azerbaijani] colleagues," he said.
The PM also called for restoring a peaceful format to return Armenian and Azerbaijani citizens who "get lost" and accidently enter the other country's territory.
Willing to 'soften' position
Pashinyan said that Armenia had demonstrated that it is capable of listening and trying to understand Baku's position. He said the same thing was expected from Azerbaijan.
"In those instances, where our colleagues consider our stance to be too tough, we can soften that position but we should have the same expectations from our [Azerbaijani] colleagues otherwise no conversation can take place," he said.
Pashinyan did not clarify what he meant by "soften" or which position he was referring to, however.
Pashinyan claimed that his statements on Karabakh were an "invitation for a dialogue" and not a challenge. He said the dialogue had started in Dushanbe and continued in St Petersburg and Davos.
"Naturally, we will not reject dialogue, and during this dialogue we will put our arguments on the table and we will attentively listen to our colleagues' counter-arguments. And I think that a constructive and efficient solution or the continuation [of talks] must be within this logic," he said.
'New person' at talks
Pashinyan again reiterated that the "three principles and six elements" proposed by the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs as a basis for the Karabakh negotiations process gave way to different interpretations and needed to be clarified.
"The interpretations of the announced principles provided by Azerbaijan are unacceptable for us, we can come up with our own interpretations but we do not because engaging in a verbal dispute is not our aim," he said.
Pashinyan said he was a new person at the talks and he wanted to understand which of the interpretations was correct and which was not. He said he had many questions and needed to understand the meaning of each word and each stage in the Karabakh conflict settlement process. At the same time, he pointed out that Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev had been engaged in the negotiations for over 10 years already.
"I received huge information but this huge information created the necessity to acquire even more information because this is a complex process, which has many delicate aspects and anyone who wants to be involved in the talks must possess all information," he said.
Pashinyan said that his upcoming meeting with Aliyev will also be devoted to clarifying the "contradictory" information existing in the negotiation process.
'Restoration' of negotiation format
Pashinyan dismissed statements that Karabakh's involvement in the negotiation process was an attempt to change the format of talks.
"It is not a proposal to change the format of talks, it is a proposal on the restoration of the format of talks," he said.
In this relation, Pashinyan presented a number of international documents which, he said, testified to Karabakh's involvement in the peace talks during the initial stages of the Karabakh conflict settlement.
"Those who say that my statements imply changing the negotiation format are not well-informed about the negotiation format," he said.
At the same time, Pashinyan said that everyone knew who was responsible for sidelining Karabakh in the negotiations but he did not mention any names.
Exchange of citizens
Pashinyan said there had been a practice between the Armenian and Azerbaijani sides to exchange citizens who got lost on the other's territories within a week.
Pashinyan said the practice was interrupted when armed people crossed from Azerbaijan to Armenia and caused the deaths of Armenian citizens.
"We are ready exchange the persons who got lost [in Armenia] with those who got lost [in Azerbaijan]," he said.
Pashinyan said, however, that this could not work if the border trespassers' actions resulted in the death of another persons.