Yerevan has proposed to Azerbaijan to form a mechanism for mutual arms control and monitoring of the ceasefire regime
Yerevan. January 8th. Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has said he will not respond to aggressive statements by Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev.
"Perhaps Baku is trying to 'legitimize' the escalation in the region. Aggressive statements are being made based on the expectation that an aggressive reaction will be heard in Yerevan, which will allow Baku to make its own statements more aggressive, combining this with spreading false information about the violation of the ceasefire by the Armenian army in order to form a justification for a new escalation in the region," Pashinyan told the "Armenpress" news agency on Wednesday.
The day before, Aliev told Azerbaijani TV channels that "Armenia is actually a source of threat to the region," calling the Armenian state "fascist." "Fascism must be destroyed, either the Armenian leadership or us will destroy it, we have no other way out," the Azerbaijani president said.
Meanwhile, Pashinyan stated that Yerevan "will adhere to the peace strategy and consistently continue to implement the peace agenda." "This means that we will not use the language of aggression, but the language of dialogue. We will continue to focus on the demarcation (of the border), on agreeing on the text of the peace treaty, on the implementation of the Crossroads of the World project, on humanitarian issues, including the problems of clarifying the fate of the missing," the Armenian Prime Minister said.
To the Azerbaijani president's accusation that Armenia is a fascist state, Pashinyan stated that "the expectation is for a response in the spirit of "you are a fascist yourself," and the situation I described will begin to escalate." "But there is another approach: we state that this is how Armenia is perceived in Azerbaijan, and we will try to understand why, what is the reason. On the other hand, it is obvious that a similar perception of Azerbaijan exists in the Republic of Armenia. It was these mutual perceptions that led to the long-term conflict," Pashinyan said.
"The peace agenda is aimed at eliminating these perceptions. Some of the agreed articles of the peace treaty close the page on some of these ideas, while other parts give us the opportunity to make all mutual negative ideas part of the bilateral agenda and eliminate them. I would like to add that we have proposed solutions to two uncoordinated articles of the peace treaty, and if Azerbaijan responds positively, we are ready to sign the agreement," the Armenian Prime Minister said.
Pashinyan also stated that arming the Armenian army cannot be considered illegitimate.
Earlier, Aliyev said that "Armenia must immediately stop arming." "France and other countries that supply it with weapons should cancel these contracts. The weapons that have already been delivered to Armenia must be returned. This is our condition," he said.
"There are no elements of illegitimacy in the reform program of the Army of the Republic of Armenia. I must repeat that the Republic of Armenia recognizes the territorial integrity of all its neighbors, including the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan, and expects the same from Azerbaijan, that is, clear and unconditional recognition of Armenia's territorial integrity," Pashinyan said.
According to him, "we do not set ourselves the task of returning more than 200 square kilometers of the occupied territories of Armenia by military means, since the demarcation process makes it possible to resolve this issue peacefully, through negotiations."
"With all this fixed, no one will be able to challenge the right of the Republic of Armenia to have a defense-capable army. As for concerns about armaments, we also have concerns about arming Azerbaijan, and we have also heard their concerns. It is for this reason that we have made an offer to Azerbaijan to form a mechanism for mutual arms control and are waiting for their response," Pashinyan said.
Pashinyan also stated that Azerbaijan's information about the violation of the ceasefire by the Armenian army is not true.
