If Azerbaijan wants results it should negotiate with Stepanakert, Shavarsh Kocharyan says
Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Armenia, Shavarsh Kocharyan told the reporters that Bishkek protocol, signed on this very day in 1994, is very important, as it became the basis for the agreement on ceasefire.
“I want to focus on the fact that Bishkek [protocol] didn’t just occur. Before the signing of the protocol, the parties went through a long negotiating process. Already in September 1993, when Baku entered direct negotiations with Stepanakert, many meetings have been arranged. It was then that, Heydar Aliyev signed a document authorizing the vice speaker of the Parliament to negotiate with the representative of NKR to arrange a high-class meeting,” Shavarsh Kocharyan said.
According to him, former Prime Minister of NKR, Arkadi Ghukasyan, also authorized to represent NKR, met with the Azerbaijani representative in Moscow.
“An agreement on brief ceasefire was reached during the meeting,” said Kocharyan adding that the representatives also agreed for a meeting to be arranged for the Presidents of both countries, and since then many other meetings were held.
Kocharyan also noted that if Azerbaijan wants results, it should negotiate directly with Stepanakert.
“From this point of view, they say it’s a litmus paper. Azerbaijan refusing to accept Karabakh as a competent negotiating party, means they want to use the negotiation process to cover up their destructive actions,” Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs said adding that the agreements of 1994 and the one following it are an international responsibility for Azerbaijan, and their violation means violation of international responsibility.