Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan referred to the proposal of Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev to move to Tbilisi and negotiate in a bilateral or trilateral format within the framework of the "Interview" program of Public TV of Armenia.
"Yes, it becomes a very important circumstance against the background of what I said at the beginning of our conversation. You see, a meeting was held in Granada, and the principles for the regulation of relations between Armenia and Azerbaijan were recorded on the platform of the European Union, from our point of view and that of the European Union. Now it is clear that when we meet in Brussels, the conversation should take place within the framework of these principles, which, I will not say, correspond only to the interests of the Republic of Armenia.
The Republic of Armenia has accepted it and, by the way, Azerbaijan has also accepted it, I already said. And now, when we discuss the issue of meeting in Brussels, where, in fact, we have a framework to emphasize, and when Azerbaijan tries to offer another platform, it can be interpreted by us that by moving to another platform, Azerbaijan wants to neutralize the already agreed principles. This is the problem.
What are we saying? We are saying: let's fix the principles, sign under those principles, declare those principles, that is, let it be clear in what framework we are talking and what will be the result of our conversation - not completely, but 70-80 percent. Well, we can have room for negotiation on 20 percent, because there are many nuances that we have already discussed about these principles, they do not provide answers to these questions, but when we leave it, we offer other platforms, in fact, it seems that we are offering these principles outside to push, and our fears, your fears, that there may be a hidden plan behind that process, to lead a process that will end with the use of force, with a new war, with a new escalation, are deepening. We are not against any conversation, but we are against the logic that would take us out of the framework of already agreed principles," he said.
Pashinyan referred to the meetings in 3+3 format. To the question: are we ready to continue this topic, Pashinyan answered:
"Yes, of course we are ready, and regarding that meeting, the 3+3 format, when the founding meeting took place, certain principles were agreed upon and an agreement reached. We are ready to continue working in that format and, by the way, let me say that we also value it. Why do we emphasize it, because it doesn't work out, and this is a recurring problem for us, that we constantly discuss the regional agenda in faraway places, and we don't discuss it in this region, because we understand, of course, the international community, our partnership with all partners it is very important, but not to suddenly create an impression in our region that we have, so to speak, an arbitrary attitude towards the countries and relations of our region.
No, it's not like that at all, and on the contrary, one of the subtleties of our foreign policy is that we give importance to regional relations without taking them out of the general context of international relations. I know that it was also agreed at the time that the next meeting of the 3+3 format will take place in Tehran. And we are ready, of course there is still more to be discussed. First of all, the meetings have taken place at least up to now at the level of the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, now it is also necessary to clarify what the perception of the parties is, at what level the conversation should be continued, and we are ready."
The Prime Minister elaborated:
"We have been included in that format, and until now there has not been a case that the discussions in that format were postponed or did not take place because of us. Nothing like that happened."
