During a briefing with reporters at the parliament, Speaker of the National Assembly of Armenia Alen Simonyan welcomed the statement made by Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev. He also expressed confidence that in the near future, there will be no shortage of bilateral steps.
According to him, there are several very important issues for which the Armenian side expects a swift resolution.
Asked whether the issue of captives was raised during his meeting with the Speaker of the Milli Majlis of Azerbaijan Sahiba Gafarova on the sidelines of the 151st Assembly of the Inter-Parliamentary Union in Geneva, Simonyan replied:
“There is always a conversation about captives and detainees. It was discussed not only during that meeting. If you watch my speech, you’ll hear me speak about it.”
He described the meeting with Gafarova as “very positive”. Simonyan thanked the organizers for arranging the meeting and emphasized that both sides understand the need for their parliaments to take on the responsibility of preparing societies, bringing them closer, and fostering a mindset of living in peace.
“My counterpart also shared that understanding. It was a very positive and warm meeting. We agreed to discuss and propose a concrete mechanism for further steps,” he added, noting that these steps are not for the distant future.
“We both believe that this should be done as quickly as possible and on as broad a scale as possible. One of the important aspects of the meeting was that I saw peace not only in our hearts and vision but also on the Azerbaijani side,” Simonyan said.
Asked why Aliyev uses the word “corridor”, Simonyan responded that he had raised this question and was told that there is nothing negative in the word itself — Azerbaijan wants an economic corridor to pass through its territory. Regarding Zangezur, they said it is called that because the territory historically bears that name.
“I think it’s a matter of difference in discourse,” the Speaker added.
As to whether the Azerbaijani parliament speaker could visit Yerevan, Simonyan said he does not rule out such a possibility within an international format, and likewise, he could also travel.
However, he stressed that it is difficult for the Armenian side to visit Azerbaijan while Armenian detainees remain held there.
When asked if it is possible for the captives to return before Armenia’s parliamentary elections, Simonyan replied that they don’t talk about such things until they actually happen.
