YEREVAN, JANUARY 12, ARMENPRESS. Armenia should not engage in negotiations with Azerbaijan regarding the opening of the Lachin Corridor, since Armenia is not a party to the trilateral declaration of November 9, 2020 regarding the Lachin Corridor. The authorities of Artsakh have the opportunity to directly negotiate and speak directly with Azerbaijan, and they themselves deal with the problem, and Armenia will support every decision of Artsakh, ARMENPRESS reports the President of the National Assembly Alen Simonyan said in a briefing with journalists.
Referring to the statement of the Artsakh Security Council, in which concern was expressed regarding a number of claims and views expressed by Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan during the press conference, Simonyan said, the Artsakh Security Council, Artsakh authorities and Artsakh representatives have the opportunity to directly negotiate and speak directly.
“And not only do they have the opportunity, but they themselves are engaged in it. And as Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan mentioned during the press conference, the Republic of Armenia will support any of their positions. And, frankly speaking, it is not clear what kind of disagreement we are talking about when you are the contacting party yourself,” said Alen Simonyan.
According to the President of the National Assembly, the authorities of Artsakh are in direct contact in one way or another with the representatives of the Azerbaijani authorities, as well as with the representatives of the Russian military contingent.
“I constantly have telephone conversations with the authorities of Artsakh. At the moment, these contacts have decreased, but these contacts exist and there are people who carry out these contacts. I can say that this connection has existed for a long time. I think the authorities of Artsakh should note that Armenia has declared that it will support their every decision and will continue its efforts in the direction of solving this problem,” stressed Alen Simonyan.
To the question why Armenia does not negotiate with Azerbaijan on the Lachin Corridor issue, the President of the National Assembly answered that if Armenia becomes a party, then it will cancel the trilateral declaration on November 9, 2020.
Simonyan does not rule out that Azerbaijan’s goal is to involve Armenia in this dialogue in order to try to force the opening of a similar corridor through the territory of Armenia.
“I assume that the Lachin corridor was closed precisely for the reason that, for example, such a corridor would be forced on us through the territory of Armenia. Why should we enter into that conversation?” said Simonyan.
According to him, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Armenia did not participate in the trilateral meeting with Russia and Azerbaijan scheduled in December in Moscow because of the Lachin Corridor.
To the question if this means abandoning the Artsakh problem, as the opposition claims, Simonyan answered that it is absurd to give such a qualification.
“What we are doing is the maximum that Armenia can afford. Abandoning it would be leaving the cooperation somehow, but Armenia is doing everything and will continue to do everything,” concluded Simonyan.
Source: Armen Press
