YEREVAN, MAY 5, ARMENPRESS. No one in the world can deny that there are numerous unresolved issues regarding the security and rights of the people of Nagorno Karabakh and these issues must be discussed and addressed by the bodies elected by the people of Nagorno Karabakh, while the authorities of Armenia must try to ensure the start of the dialogue, the mechanism and platform, foreign minister Ararat Mirzoyan has said.

Mirzoyan made the remarks when asked by Hayastan faction MP Arthur Khachatryan whether the authorities of Nagorno Karabakh/Artsakh have authorized the government of Armenia to negotiate on their behalf regarding the future status of Artsakh.

“As the Prime Minister of Armenia has numerously mentioned, we haven’t received a mandate by the people of Nagorno Karabakh to negotiate their future. And subsequently we don’t have the right to determine their status. We aren’t even aspiring or trying to do so. The only thing we are trying to ensure in the Armenia-Azerbaijan normalization process is the following: we consider that this normalization cannot be realistic, complete, lasting and sustainable if a mechanism for dialogue isn’t created as part of this normalization where the people of Nagorno Karabakh and the official Baku can have dialogue, discuss and negotiate around all the issues which are of the interest and importance to the people of Nagorno Karabakh, for their future,” Mirzoyan said at the joint committee debates on the 2022 budget report.

In order for the possible peace to be sustainable and lasting the existing issues must be addressed, he said.

“No one in the world can deny that there are numerous open issues regarding the security and rights of the people of Nagorno Karabakh. The illegal blockade of the Lachin Corridor, the disruptions of gas and electricity supplies attest to that. We all know the situation in Nagorno Karabakh. These issues must be discussed and addressed by the bodies and authorized institutions elected by the people of Nagorno Karabakh. We must try to ensure the start of that dialogue, the mechanism and platform,” FM Mirzoyan said.