Armenia remains committed to peaceful settlement process of NK conflict, says FM Mnatsakanyan

Armenia remains committed to the peaceful negotiations process of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict settlement, within the internationally accepted format, which is called Minsk Group Co-Chairmanship, Armenia’s foreign ministry Zohrab Mnatsakanyan told reporters in Artsakh, addressing his upcoming meeting with Azerbaijan’s foreign minister.

“Yes, this is a continuous process, it will happen. I have already mentioned once, let me repeat, that I respect the rules of work in similar processes, and one of these rules is announcing the date, hour and location of the meeting in an agreed manner. Be sure, that all this will be done in an agreed-upon manner and naturally it will be available to all,” the FM said.

Addressing a question about the ongoing military exercises in Azerbaijan, the Armenian FM said: “We are constantly emphasizing the important circumstance that if we are seriously moving towards peaceful settlement, and it is exclusively peaceful settlement for everyone, exclusively through negotiations and exclusively within the Minsk Group co-chairmanship, this important factors are subject to real implementation in terms of practice, when we are working in the direction of creating an atmosphere contributing to peace. What took place during this period doesn’t anyhow contribute to the formation of such an atmosphere, both in terms of rhetoric and moreover in terms of actions. This is condemnable and unacceptable, when we have signs of tension, when we have actions of targeting peaceful civilians. Naturally this is unacceptable.

We have clearly noted that both Armenia and Artsakh are capable of defending themselves, but this isn’t our goal. We must avoid crises with all cost, avoid the situation which can simply bring disaster to this region. No one will win or lose from this. This must be clearly realized. It is unacceptable, condemnable and is seriously damaging the peaceful process”.