Pashinyan: Statements on involving Artsakh in negotiations not a challenge, but an invitation to dialogue

Panama, Armenia

The agenda proposed by Armenia to involve Artsakh in the negotiations is not something new both for the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs and Azerbaijan, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan told a news conference on Tuesday when asked how long Armenia is ready to wait if Azerbaijan disagrees with the country’s stance.

“There is no need to wait at all. It’s just necessary to work consistently in the diplomatic process,” he said.

The PM stressed this is neither a whim nor precondition by the Armenian side. “We will continue discussing the matter with our partners and will try to take them to the field of arguments, since negotiating means listening to each other,” the PM said, stressing Armenia has demonstrated that ability to listen to and try to understand, and expects the same from Azerbaijan.

Pashinyan said he made a statement on returning Artsakh to the negotiating table still in May 2018, when he was a PM candidate.

“These statements are not a challenge, but an invitation to dialogue, which, in fact, hasn’t just started. That dialogue started in Dushanbe, continued in St. Petersburg, Davos, and I don’t know where the next dialogue will take place," he said.

"We do not imagine a regime where one of the sides says, ‘I reject dialogue.’ That will not be a logical approach. Naturally, we, too, will not abandon the dialogue, will put forward our facts during the dialogue and listen carefully to the counter-arguments of our colleagues. I believe the constructive and effective solution or continuation should be within this logic,” the PM added.