The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ara Ayvazyan, was invited to the session of the National Assembly Standing Committee on Regional and Eurasian Integration. Only the first part of the session was open to news outlets. Then, the session took place behind closed doors in order to hold discussions on prisoners of war, Karvachar, and other issues.
The minister said that the situation continues to remain difficult. He highlighted the importance of the parliamentary diplomacy tool, and said that they should be able to combine their work. “After the 44-day war, the forces and influences both regional and major players are being redistributed throughout the South Caucasus. The process has not yet been fully crystallized, and it is too early to fully assess the emerging realities and challenges. Nevertheless, it can be said that Russia has played a crucial role in maintaining the ceasefire and security and in resolving current humanitarian issues in the region. Turkey’s ambitions in regional processes have obviously increased, too. Maintaining the comprehensive security of the Armenian people in the region has been and remains the priority of our foreign policy. The unresolved Nagorno-Karabakh conflict remains one of the key regional challenges. The consequences of Azerbaijan’s use of force against Artsakh with the direct support and participation of Turkey and the occupation of part of Artsakh’s territories cannot be considered part of the conflict settlement. Only a negotiated political settlement that respects the rights of all and that determines the final status of Artsakh can be considered the end of the conflict. We are committed to the resumption of the settlement process, but, first of all, an environment conducive to peace must be established, and the preconditions for that have not yet been noticeable from the Azerbaijani side. This has been proven by the fact that Azerbaijan has not fulfilled the humanitarian portion of the November 9th trilateral agreement, which is particularly seen in the obstacles facing the exchange of prisoners.”
The minister said that at the same time, the Armenian side’s position remains the same: the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs are the only internationally recognized format for the Artsakh conflict settlement, and Armenia continues to support that format.
Hripsime Jebejyan
