Yerevan, Baku should start peace talks immediately - Armenian PM
YEREVAN. March 24 (Interfax) - Armenia should immediately start negotiations with Azerbaijan to sign a peace treaty, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said.
"The situation in the world and in the region is tense, and we consider ourselves responsible for easing the level of tension and looking for fundamental decisions. We believe peace talks between Armenia and Azerbaijan should begin immediately," Pashinyan said at a government meeting on Thursday.
The two countries should intensify steps toward border delimitation and demarcation in parallel with improving security and stability on the borders, he said.
"We have proposed a mirrored withdrawal of troops from the borders, based on the borderline endorsed de jure in Soviet times. Apart from this, we have also proposed a local troop withdrawal and are expecting a reply from Azerbaijan. In particular, as concerns the Yeraskh section [on the border with the Nakhichevan region of Azerbaijan], we have proposed that Azerbaijan step back a number of positions from our territory and we from their territory. Hence, we would mutually settle the problem of one of the hottest spots over the past 1.5 years," Pashinyan said.
Armenia is still unaware of Azerbaijan's actual position as regards unblocking regional transport communication routes, Pashinyan said. "We still can't understand whether Azerbaijan wishes to open regional communications or not. If it does wish, then our proposals remain valid and we stand ready to start implementing this literally at any moment," he said.
There is no alternative to the advent of an era of peaceful development in the region, he said.
"To implement the peace agenda, we need strong nerves, and we shouldn't be distracted from our strategy," Pashinyan said.
Natural gas supply from Armenia to the unrecognized Nagorno-Karabakh Republic (NKR) on March 7 was cut resulting from an explosion on the gas pipeline organized by Azerbaijan, Pashinyan said.
"The discontinuation of gas supply to Artsakh [the Armenian name for Nagorno-Karabakh] happened because of Azerbaijan's immediate involvement. The gas pipeline was blown up on a territory controlled by Azerbaijan on March 7, and they used various pretexts so as not to allow the gas pipeline's repairs and finally fixed it themselves. According to our information, they installed a valve on the gas pipeline during that work," he said.
Gas supply was resumed on March 18 and then cut again on March 21, he said.
"This time around, Azerbaijan cut gas supply without explosions, proving that it was the author of the explosion. All of this is happening amid unprecedentedly cold weather and unheard of snowfalls. In these conditions, Artsakh was deliberately deprived of heating. As a result of Azerbaijan's actions, Artsakh found itself on the verge of a humanitarian crisis," Pashinyan said.
This situation should help the international community understand the essence of the Karabakh problem and see that Azerbaijan's policy toward Armenians in Karabakh is to create conditions in which they cannot live on their homeland, he said.
"There are 117,000 Armenians living there, and Azerbaijan sees this fact as its biggest loss, and it is seeking to do its utmost to bring the ethnic cleansing policy in Artsakh to an end. Such a thing can't happen," he said.