Armenia has proposed the establishment of an international mechanism to investigate ceasefire violations in the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict zone following the latest deadly clashes, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian said while being hosted on BBC World News’ HARDtalk show this week.
During the interview released on Friday presenter of the show Stephen Sackur noted that Armenia and Azerbaijan blame each other for starting the border escalation in mid-July that left at least five Armenians and 12 Azerbaijani servicemen dead.
“I can understand the situation of the international community that every time hears mutual accusations about who violated the ceasefire. And this continues again and again for a long time. That’s why we are proposing to establish an international mechanism for investigating ceasefire violations. And this is a valid proposal by Armenia,” the Armenian prime minister said.
To the remark of the presenter that nothing has changed in Armenia’s position on Nagorno-Karabakh since Pashinian’s coming to power in 2018, the Armenian leader said that “peace can’t be achieved through unilateral actions of Armenia.”
“We will be able to have real peace if Azerbaijan reciprocates Armenia’s efforts,” Pashinian said, accusing Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev of continuing his war rhetoric and attempting to solve the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict by force.
Pashinian reminded that after becoming Armenia’s prime minister he proposed a “new formula for peace.”
“The formula is the following: any solution to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict should be acceptable for the people of Armenia, for the people of Nagorno-Karabakh and for the people of Azerbaijan. I am the first Armenian leader to have ever said that any solution to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict should be acceptable for the Azerbaijani people, too. But, unfortunately, the Azerbaijani president didn’t reciprocate my proposal,” he said.
Regarding the mid-July deadly fighting at the Armenian-Azerbaijani border, Pashinian said: “Azerbaijan started a military attack against Armenia. It wasn’t a separate action. For a long time the Azerbaijani president has developed a bellicose rhetoric, saying that he is going to solve the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict using military force. As a result of that bellicose rhetoric the Azerbaijani government is facing the challenge to explain to their own society why they couldn’t solve the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict through force.”
During the interview the Armenian prime minister also answered questions concerning his government’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic, its human rights record and others.
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