“It has been thirty years that the leaders of Azerbaijan and Armenia are repeating the same thing. I don’t think that’s right. We repeat the same things every time. I am worried that the international community will grow tired of hearing the same things. I believe that it is important for us to push new ideas forward,” Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said during the discussion panel on the Artsakh conflict at the Munich Security Conference. President of Azerbaijan had repeated the “Artsakh is Azerbaijan” statement, which Nikol Pashinyan had responded to.
“When I became Prime Minister as a result of the Velvet Revolution, I understood that it is not possible to resolve a conflict that lasted for thirty years in one or two steps. I thought that revolutions need to take place in order for the issue to be resolved, so I carried out small revolutions,” Nikol Pashinyan said. As far as what Pashinyan expects from the international community for the Artsakh issue, he emphasized, “I expect that the international community will say that the Artsakh conflict does not have a military resolution. If anyone thinks and says otherwise, I think that the people of Artsakh will respond that the conflict has already been resolved. I, however, think that we need lasting peace. Armenia does not represent Artsakh in the negotiations process, but Armenia and Artsakh are prepared to make efforts in order to ensure lasting peace in the region. This is not only my responsibility to my country, but to the region. I suggest that Aliyev regard this as a mutual task.”
President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev, in regards to the possible role of the international community, initially claimed that his earlier statements were 100 percent factual and he called upon people to find that information in the appropriate documents on the Internet. “Armenia, unfortunately, is trying to find justification for what they did in Khojaly. Mutallibov said many times that he was not the one who said Khojaly was organized by Azeris.”
Speaking about his expectations of the international community, Aliyev gave the following message, “They need to explain to Armenia that Karabakh is Azerbaijan and it is not an independent country. Secondly, there needs to be more pressure against Armenia to carry out the resolution of the UN Security Council.”
Luiza Sukiasyan