YEREVAN/BAKU (Combined Sources)—Top level Armenian and Azeri officials, in separate statements, blamed the other for the stalling of the Karabakh conflict resolution process, with the Azeri side accusing Yerevan of prolonging the process, while the Armenian side insisting that Baku wanted to resolve the conflict through the use of force.
Armenia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Shavarsh Kocharyan said in an interview with Ekho Moskvy Tuesday explained that the conflict was between the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic and Azerbaijan, adding that it was the Karabakh people’s expression of self-determination that prompted aggression by Azerbaijan in the first place.
While Kocharyan expressed hope that Azerbaijan would not resume hostilities, he asserted that Armenia would respond accordingly in the event of military escalation.
“Should Azerbaijan resume hostilities, Armenia will behave just as it did in the 1990s,” said Kocharyan.
The foreign ministry official said the people of Karabakh had already determined for themselves the status of Karabakh in two referendums—the declaration of independence and the constitutional referendum.
In an interview with ANS TV, Azeri presidential chief foreign policy adviser Nevruz Memmedov accused Armenian of deliberately stalling the peace process.
“Yerevan has not exhibited a constructive attitude on the [Karabakh] issue,” said Memmedov, calling for “an end to Yerevan’s prolonging of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.”
