ArmInfo.The position of official Stepanakert and of the Artsakh people has not changed: dialogue with Baku is possible in an international format, David Babayan, Advisor to the Nagorno-Karabakh president, told ArmInfo as he commented on media reports claiming Washington is pressing Stepanakert into a meeting with Baku on a third country.
However, organizing such a meeting and presenting it as "dialogue within Azerbaijan" is unacceptable to Stepanakert. In this context, he stressed the Baku-Stepanakert dialogue in an international format ended in 1996-1997, and it can hardly be resumed now.
"Organizing meetings and presenting them in a context of 'repentant separatists' who bowed theirs heads and 'Mother-Azerbaijan' is so generous and ready to 'grant an amnesty to them' is just unacceptable. In this context, I would also like to comment on the notorious statement by the U.S. Department of State, which approved of Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev's statement on 'granting amnesty an amnesty to the Karabakh officials if they immediately leave their posts.' That statement just severely tarnished the USA's image," Mr Babayan said.
He finds it difficult to verify a RIA Novosti report on Stepanakert being forced into a meeting with Baku. However, he stressed that such a meeting can take place only in an international format, with Stepanakert acting as a party, not as an enclave.
A number of Russian media outlets, referring to a source in Washington, reported that the USA is pressing Nagorno-Karabakh into meeting with Azerbaijan, threatening with a "counterterrorist operation" if Stepanakert refuses.
"The goal is the USA's entry into the region," the source said.