In response to Noyan Tapan’s question related to the section of the message of RA Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan devoted to Artsakh (“Do you think the message was in line with the statements made in the month of May and the section devoted to Artsakh in the Government Program?”), Editor-in-Chief of Lebanon’s Aztag Daily Shahan Kandaharian said the following:

“I believe that the statements on the Artsakh conflict in the three texts that you mentioned complement each other, and consequently, the message was in line with the statements. The new statement, which was an interesting interpretation by the Prime Minister, concerned the phony argument that Azerbaijan made when Armenia was proposing that the official Stepanakert return to the table of negotiations. The official Baku is speculating the topic by making a counterproposal, stating that representatives of the so-called Azerbaijani community of Nagorno-Karabakh must also participate in the negotiations as an independent party.

In this sense, the Prime Minister makes a counterargument, highlighting the fact that the political status of the Azerbaijanis having lived in Nagorno-Karabakh has not undergone any change as a result of the conflict. They remain citizens of Azerbaijan, participate in Azerbaijan elections, presidential elections, give Aliyev the presidential mandate, and consequently, those people have their representative in the negotiations, and that representative is Aliyev. I believe this is a serious counterargument to the official Baku’s speculations, and the Prime Minister’s interpretation includes the logic, norms and standards accepted by the international community.

Now it is safe to say that the so-called Azerbaijani community of Nagorno-Karabakh participates in the negotiations through Aliyev, and in exchange of that, the official Stepanakert has to be a part of the format of negotiations. It is safe to say that this is a new substantiated political formulation that may be internationally perceivable.”