YEREVAN, DECEMBER 19, ARMENPRESS. There is nothing new in the Nagorno Karabakh conflict settlement issue, caretaker Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan told reporters today, addressing the statement of Azerbaijan’s FM Elmar Mammadyarov who said that a mutual-agreement has been reached during a meeting with Armenia’s FM in Milan, Italy.

“In Milan, the Armenian and Azerbaijani foreign ministers, with the co-chairs, have agreed upon a joint statement, and it has been said that for a long time such a statement was not succeeded to be agreed upon. There is nothing new in the Karabakh issue. And the activeness is to the extent which you see,” Pashinyan said.

Speaking about his meeting with OSCE Personal Representative of the Chairperson in Office Andrzej Kasprzyk, the premier stressed that the ambassador is regularly visiting the region and that his visits are strictly of a working nature.

“There were cases when his visits weren’t published at all, but I have tasked my staff to cover all contacts, because the process must be transparent,” Pashinyan said.

Pashinyan also noted that whenever a comment is voiced from Azerbaijan that contains a certain element of optimism, he is concerned over the interpretations of a number of Armenian commentators, whose first presumption is that there is some kind of a conspiracy.

“And why is there such a presumption? Why isn’t there a presumption on the Armenian government having succeeded in bringing decisive arguments?” Pashinyan said.

To an observation that perhaps similar interpretations happen because it is Azerbaijan that first announces it, Pashinyan said: “I remember one thing, when I came to Gyumri at night from St. Petersburg and when I was participating in the 30th anniversary of the earthquake events the next day, the Azerbaijani presidential press service published information that a conversation has taken place between myself and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev in St. Petersburg, while we had agreed that we would give a brief information about this. Very big conclusions are being made from the fact that they were the ones to first give this information. I say again, and anyone can study what I say, no government has been so transparent than ours in the Nagorno Karabakh issue.”

Asked if the St. Petersburg and Vienna agreements remain a priority for Armenia, Pashinyan said that the problem is that from the very beginning Azerbaijan has insisted that such agreements don’t exist at all.

“As far as these agenda, these are the agenda of the official negotiations process, that have taken place in participation of the co-chairs. I personally have not participated in an official negotiations process, I’ve had a conversation twice with Ilham Aliyev, and in Dushanbe it so happened that we reached an agreement. I want to once again speak about this contradiction, whenever there is an agreement, whenever something is stabilizing, the commentators are saying – what conspiracy is this, whenever there is nothing like this, commentators say it is war and that the government is unable to prevent it,” Pashinyan said.

Edited and translated by Stepan Kocharyan