Armenian FM responds to Azerbaijani president

ArmInfo.Minister of Foreign Affairs of the  Republic of Armenia Ararat Mirzoyan responded to the statements of  the President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev that Armenia is not sincere  in the process of achieving peace, it is delaying the process of  unblocking the region. The questions of ARMENPRESS and FM Mirzoyan's  answers on the issue are presented below.

Question: The President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev stated in his  speech yesterday that Armenia is not sincere in the process of  achieving peace. How would you comment on that?

Answer: The Government of the Republic of Armenia has repeatedly  proved its readiness to make efforts for the establishment of  long-term stability and peace in the South Caucasus. At the same  time, it is obvious that these efforts cannot be unilateral,  Azerbaijan must also take practical and sincere steps in this  direction.  The establishment of peace cannot be the result of the  efforts of one side alone, and peace talks cannot be based on the  proposals of one side alone.

It is also obvious that for the success of these efforts, it is  necessary to address the whole set of existing problems that have  caused the conflict in order to find a solution acceptable to all  parties. In this context, the statements made by official Baku that  Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is solved are at least not understood or,  moreover, cast doubt on the sincerity of the Azerbaijani authorities'  intention to achieve peace. No matter what statements are made, the  Nagorno-Karabakh issue will continue to exist as long as the issues  of security, sufficient guarantees for the protection of all rights  of the Armenians of Artsakh, and the status of Nagorno-Karabakh  arising from them are not addressed. In the modern world, the  situation created by the use of force cannot be the solution to a  problem.

The assertion that as a result of the use of force even Nagorno  Karabakh does not exist, does not speak about the constructiveness of  Azerbaijan. Needless to say that this, of course, corresponds neither  to the de- facto reality, the most important part of which is the  existence of Artsakh Armenians in Artsakh and the presence of Russian  peacekeeping forces to ensure their security, nor the November 9  trilateral declaration, which stopped the war and clearly defines the  existence of Nagorno Karabakh.

The same can be said about the statements of the Azerbaijani  authorities on the non-existence of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs.  First of all, no one has suspended it or can suspend the  international mandate of the Co-chairs to contribute to the political  settlement of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict without the relevant  decision of the international institute defining it. In that case, it  is incomprehensible that if the parties really want to negotiate  sincerely, to find mutually acceptable solutions, to achieve a  stable, comprehensive peace, then why should not those talks take  place in the OSCE Minsk Group Co-chairs' format? A format which has  the clear support of the international community and not to using its  experience and potential is simply not logical and reasonable.

Question: Ilham Aliyev claims that the Armenian side is delaying the  process of unblocking the region.  What can you say about this?

Answer: We have always stated that we are interested in opening all  the transport and economic infrastructures in the region. This is  evidenced by the trilateral statements adopted by the Russian  mediation on January 11 and November 26, as well as the agreements  reached in Brussels.

I would like to emphasize that Armenia has been involved in the  discussions in good faith, the process would have been much smoother  if there were no statements by Azerbaijan about extraterritorial  corridor, which have nothing to do with the trilateral declaration of  November 9, as well as with the commitments assumed by the statements  I mentioned.

As for Azerbaijan's efforts to draw parallels between the Lachin  corridor and the regional transport routes to be unblocked, they  obviously cannot have the same status, at least arising from the  provisions of the trilateral declaration signed on November 9, 2020,  which clearly define the status of the Lachin corridor.  Moreover,  Nagorno Karabakh and the Nakhichevan Autonomous Republic have  different statuses, different neighborhoods, different security  environments. Accordingly, their relations with Armenia and  Azerbaijan cannot be identical.

I would like to emphasize again that the November 9 declaration  envisages unblocking of all infrastructures in the region, while  Azerbaijan is delaying in taking steps in this direction. We are  ready for unblocking the region within the framework of the  agreements on the preservation of the sovereignty of the countries  and jurisdiction over roads, and the recent talks between the Deputy  Prime Ministers of the two countries in Moscow followed this logic.