Discussion of the Nagorno-Karabakh issue with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev within the framework of the Munich Security Conference, I think, is a turning point. Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said this in an interview with the state-funded Public Television of Armenia yesterday, news.am reports.
Armenia's Pashinyan: Discussion with Azerbaijan’s Aliyev in Munich is turning point
STEPANAKERT, FEBRUARY 21, ARTSAKHPRESS: “Since May 2018, Azerbaijan has been trying to convince the entire international community that Armenia has a destructive stance on the Karabakh issue,” he said. “This conversation has clearly shown to the international community that Armenia has a constructive stance on the Karabakh issue, whereas Azerbaijan has a destructive, even racist stance on the Karabakh issue; this is the most important result.”
According to the Prime Minister, the second most important result is that he has fulfilled one of his most important promises to the Armenian people. “I have said that I will not have any secrets from the Armenian people in the negotiation process on the Karabakh issue,” Pashinyan noted. “The entire Armenian people must be aware of the content of the Karabakh issue."
In addition, he said, a very important thing happened as a result of that meeting; "A new content of the negotiations on the Karabakh issue is being formulated, which I conventionally call the Munich Principles."
Nikol Pashinyan stressed that if there is a proposal for an equally effective security tool, that proposal should be formulated, and the Armenian people will discuss whether or not it is acceptable to them. "We say that this status quo, when it was formed, when the self-defense forces of Artsakh took control of those territories, they did so that the aggressive actions of Azerbaijan were removed from Nagorno-Karabakh as far as possible to make them inaccessible,” he said. “If there is a proposal for an equally effective security tool, let that proposal be formulated, and the Armenian people will discuss whether or not it is acceptable to them."
The Armenian Prime Minister reiterated that Nagorno-Karabakh has gained independence just like Azerbaijan. “When they speak of the principle of territorial integrity, they speak of the principle of territorial integrity of which country?” Pashinyan asked and continued. “When Azerbaijan gained independence, did it maintain the territorial integrity of the Soviet Union? A counter question may be voiced that the state of the Soviet Union no longer exists. But the state in which Nagorno-Karabakh was a part also doesn’t exist; that state is the Soviet Socialist Republic of Azerbaijan. This discourse has subtleties that must be taken into account."
