As a woman and mother my message is to solve NK conflict through negotiations – Armenian PM’s spouse to Azerbaijani reporter’s question

Armenian Prime Minister’s spouse Anna Hakobyan responded to the question of an Azerbaijani reporter relating to the Nagorno Karabakh conflict during the discussion on the sidelines of the Eurasian Media Forum in Almaty, Kazakhstan, stating that as a woman and mother her message is to start to think about solving this conflict through negotiations, not war.

In his question the Azerbaijani reporter said the Armenian PM’s son is serving in the army in Nagorno Karabakh which is not an internationally recognized territory of Armenia. He also added that in May 2018 after his election as PM Nikol Pashinyan visited Stepanakert and spoke to the cameras. The journalist asked whether in such conditions it is possible to create confidence between the sides. He tried to ask also the second question, but his microphone turned off, but before that the Forum’s coordinator interrupted him urging to ask a question, rather than to make a statement.

In response Armenian PM’s spouse Anna Hakobyan said she doesn’t want to enter into details and in politics. “I am here as a woman and my call, my message is as a woman and mother. But I want to tell you that the war is not over yet, that’s why our son is serving in the army in Nagorno Karabakh.

So, my message is to start to trust each other and to start to think about solving this conflict through negotiations, not war. You know that in 2016 a large-scale war has been initiated by the Azerbaijani side, and we lost hundreds of young people from both sides. And my message is not to repeat the same, never repeat the same and to start to think about solving this conflict through negotiations”, she said.

The PM’s spouse noted that the Armenian side never started war. “And if you are talking about the messages coming from our family or the Armenian side, you have to remember the speeches and messages coming from the Azerbaijani government and Ilham Aliyev. You know better than me what kind of hostility exists in his speeches. So I want to repeat that my message is to start not to hate each other. I know it’s very difficult, but is not impossible.

I think that if women and mothers for the beginning give the same message to the political decision-makers, the negotiators, the OSCE Minsk Group coordinators never again to let a new war and try to solve the conflict through negotiations, we will come to a point”, she said.