We Are Not Against Stepanakert-Baku Dialogue, But as Parties: David Babayan

We are not against the Stepanakert-Baku dialogue, however, it should not be viewed as an internal Azerbaijani dialogue. This was stated by the head of the Artsakh Ministry of Foreign Affairs, David Babayan, during an interview with Artsakh Public Television.

“Baku may approach this as if a group of aborigines, meaning us, have behaved poorly for 30 years, rebelled against mother Azerbaijan, and now come seeking forgiveness. This is an unacceptable option. If you want to negotiate, we must negotiate as parties. It should proceed in an international format, with Armenia, Russia, the USA, France, and other international organizations necessarily present, unless they interfere,” Babayan noted.

Stepanakert does not oppose the Armenia-Azerbaijan agreement, but there should be some reference to Artsakh in it: “But we are realistic; we are not saying let Azerbaijan recognize Artsakh's independence. That is ideal, but this process could be hindered. At the same time, we consider it unacceptable that it is fixed that Artsakh is a part of Azerbaijan. That’s why we say let’s abandon extremes and choose the golden mean—let’s leave the question for the future, as it is impossible to resolve it now. But to correlate one with another and say that Artsakh should be recognized as part of Azerbaijan so that Baku behaves well, that will not happen. As soon as they take Artsakh, they will have claims on Syunik, Gegharkunik, Vayots Dzor, and Yerevan,” Babayan stated.