YEREVAN, JUNE 6, ARMENPRESS. Armenia’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Zohrab Mnatsakanyan states that without Artsakh’s decisive voice there will be no productive progress in the NK conflict settlement and that returning Stepanakert to the negotiations table is a matter of principle. Mnatsakanyan also said that the cooperation between the governments of Armenia and Artsakh has been and remains principled and effective.

“We are always working with Artsakh’s government. Before or after each negotiation we always work with Artsakh’s leadership. I personally have very close cooperation with my colleague Masis Mayilyan [Artsakh’s FM], also with President Bako Sahakyan, and so does Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan. We have a clear format of closely working together, which reflects the political line that is drawn by our government and refers to Artsakh’s participation in the negotiations process. The issue of Artsakh’s participation is a difficult, but principled, important. The issue concerns Artsakh, which is an entity, and without Artsakh’s decisive voice we will not have productive progress. Our cooperation with Artsakh’s authorities had been and remains very principled and productive,” Mnatsakanyan said.

Asked about the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs’ view regarding the suggestion to include Artsakh itself in the negotiations process of the NK conflict, Mnatsakanyan saud the “co-chairs accept what will be acceptable for the parties. “We don’t have a debate over this issue with the co-chairs, the debate is with Azerbaijan.”

Edited and translated by Stepan Kocharyan