Stepanakert: Azerbaijani authorities must first change the status quo  in their minds

ArmInfo. Artsakh is not against any kind of negotiations, including substantive ones. This was stated in a conversation with the correspondent of ArmInfo by the  press secretary of the Artsakh head David Babayan, commenting on the statement of the Azeri Foreign Ministers at the OSCE Ministerial Council in Vienna.

According to him, any negotiations as such presuppose substantive  discussions. "Today substantive negotiations presuppose one  direction, namely, the discussion of the implementation of the  agreements reached at the summits of the Presidents of Armenia and  Azerbaijan in Vienna and St. Petersburg. But what do we see in  practice?" Baku torpedo this process, leads an inadequate policy when  the president of this country declares that he will not allow the  creation of a "second state of Armenia" in the territory of  Azerbaijan, or when calls are made in Baku to shoot down the  helicopter of the Armenian president flying to Artsakh. Such an  ideology guides terrorists, fascists, nationalists," said Babayan. At  the same time he added that it is still a big question who and in  whose territories live.

Artsakh Foreign Ministry spokesman recalled that Artsakh state has  existed for at least three decades, and such statements indicate that  Baku is not ready to conduct even substantive negotiations today.   "Substantivity does not mean saying stupidity, and Mr. Mammadyarov, I  believe, says what he is told to say, and only for saying," he said.

Referring to Baku's accusations about Yerevan's deliberate delaying  the status quo, Babayan expressed the conviction that each side wants  to change it. "The parties have similar positions regarding the need  to maintain the status quo until a solution is found. Our view on the  issue of changing the status quo is normal and in tune with the  international position. For Baku it means a return to the past, which  in itself is not possible. Azeri authorities, first of all, should  change the status quo in their minds, it is necessary to change the  perception of the world, which in my opinion is impossible in the  foreseeable future," Babayan said.

Speaking about the last Nalbandyan-Mammendyarov meeting in Vienna,  Babayan noted that any meetings of this kind are important from the  standpoint of supporting the negotiation process, as well as peace  and stability in the region.

Azeri Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov, at the 24th meeting of the  OSCE Ministerial Council, once again accused Armenia of deliberately  delaying the status quo, and in attempts to advance preconditions for  the resumption of substantive negotiations, and to undermine the  negotiation processes.