Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev expressed readiness to come to Moscow for negotiations on Nagorno-Karabakh.
"The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict should be resolved exclusively through peaceful means, this is our position. Unfortunately, Azerbaijan does not agree with this point of view. And I am ready to make all necessary efforts to achieve such a result, including going, meeting, talking," the Armenian Prime Minister said when answering TASS' question whether he himself was ready to come to Moscow to meet with his visa through the mediation of the Russian Federation.
At the same time, Pashinyan noted that the resolution of the conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh should be based on compromise. "Not the surrender of one of the parties, but a compromise," he stressed.
"And <...> if there is no readiness from the other side, we are ready to fight to the end for the rights of our people, for the rights of our compatriots in Nagorno-Karabakh," Pashinyan continued. - "I think this is the position of the government of Armenia, the people of Armenia and the Armenian Diaspora, I think this is an honest and constructive position."
Aliyev also stated in an interview with TASS that Baku representatives were ready for talks with the Armenian side in Moscow. "We are always ready to meet in Moscow and any other place in order to end the confrontation and find a solution," he said.
At the same time, the Azerbaijani leader stated that Baku was "ready for any contacts". "And in this case, I did not receive such an invitation, so this is not a question for me. Many times Russian President Vladimir Putin personally, and before him Dmitry Medvedev, held trilateral meetings between the leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan. But after the power in Armenia passed into the hands of conditional "Soros", such contacts stopped," Aliyev explained.
According to him, Russia has always played an important role in the conflict settlement. "There are objective reasons for this - both historical and geographical. There are also reasons that Russia has been active in our region for many decades and there is a high level of interaction. Therefore, we are ready for any contacts," the head of Azerbaijan stressed.
Aliyev reminded that when a proposal was received to organize a meeting of foreign ministers, the Azerbaijani side immediately agreed. "This also speaks about our position, because then the Azerbaijani army had already successfully liberated some strategic territories. It was already more than ten days as the conflict lasted and it was almost clear to everyone who was able to do what. It was not very difficult to suppose that the fighting would continue. But despite that, we did not stall for time or refuse. We said, "Yes, we are ready".
GSV "Russia - Islamic World"
Photo: official website of the Prime Minister of Armenia