“Back in 1997, it was planned to divide the issue into parts, first was the Karabakh issue, then the peace agreement, and so is with the 2018 and 2016 packages. This package very clearly states that these initial principles are agreed upon, and then negotiations between the governments begin with the participation of the representatives of Nagorno-Karabakh.

This is where by saying NK representatives the Armenians and Azerbaijanis of Nagorno-Karabakh would have been meant. And it is here that with this settlement proposal the Azerbaijanis of Nagorno-Karabakh would have sat at the table of negotiations and there would not have been any settlement until the issue of Shushi, which was on the table of negotiations since 1996, was resolved.

Would Serzh Sargsyan hand over Shushi? No, he would not. A war would have broken and not only Shushi but a part of Karabakh would have been handed over. A new stage was added to the stage-by-stage option. The NK status or the ongoing status was to be determined at the Security Council session,” Pashinyan said.

He stressed that “if we wanted to hand over Karabakh and take the logic of the negotiations left by Serzh Sargsyan to the end, we would have handed over Karabakh.”

“Even if a referendum was to take place, it should have been within the timeframe agreed between the parties. Azerbaijan was very clearly saying that there would be no referendum in the next 50 years: let the Azerbaijanis return to Karabakh, live side by side for 50 years, the Azerbaijani settlements be returned, and in hundred years we will see, we do not agree to any other conditions,” Pashinyan said.

The premier said he is speaking about not handing over Karabakh.

“If we follow other path, we will hand over Karabakh. The developments over Parukh village are bright example – piece by piece. Let’s stop lying to each other.”

Commenting on his yesterday’s speech, he said that with it “he opened space for Armenia and Artsakh.”

“Through the whole negotiation process of the previous period, Armenia and Artsakh were deprived of political and diplomatic space. We open the way for Armenia and Artsakh to preserve the statehood. Armenia is a sovereign state, and we must return the right to decide something. We need to bring issues to the agenda, fill the regional agenda with content. It is enough for others to impose agendas to us all the time. We are talking about Armenia and Artsakh’s being or not being. There is a great deal of aggression around us and it is not just where we see it. We have to manage that aggression,” he said.