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A necessity for a new format emerges that will give an impetus to the NKR negotiation process. Spokesperson of the President of the Artsakh Republic David Babayan expressed such an opinion during the interview conducted by the correspondent of Panorama.am turning to the announcements made by Azerbaijani President President Ilham Aliyev and FM Elmar Mammadyarov.

“Firstly, the statement made by Russia’s Foreign Minister Lavrov stating that the NKR conflict is not an internal affair of Azerbaijan means that the conflict cannot be taken to its former state. Secondly, inciting a war is unacceptable as well as it a global issue. Azerbaijani leadership naturally had a negative response to this claims and the announcements by Aliyev, Mammadyarov and other diplomats immediately came after Lavrov’s statement,’ Babayan noted adding that new impetus is to be given to the negotiation process, it needs to be ‘reloaded’.

According to Babayan after getting ready for a war for 22 years in April 2016 Azerbaijan realized that the military settlement of the conflict is impossible.

“It is important for everyone to gain peace and stability in the South Caucasus region both in humanitarian and geopolitical terms. Otherwise the outburst would be more terrible than it happened in the case of Syria. Thus the most important thing is maintaining peace and stability. However it depends on the settlement of the conflict between Nagorno Karabakh and Azerbaijan, and in case Azerbaijan takes military actions it will break the peace and stability in the region. At that time Azerbaijan will face a real pressure,” the NKR President’s spokesman noted.

Turning to Mammadyarov's statement on changing the status quo, Babayan noted that if the Azerbaijani authorities are willing to change something they should start changing their approaches.

“Firstly they must change their stance on restoring the Soviet territory of Azerbaijan, and then think about settling the conflict and changing the status quo,” Babayan added.
Regarding Aliyev’s latest statements Babayan advised the latter to demonstrate vigilance and to quickly recognize the independence of the Artsakh Republic.

“The quicker he recognizes the NKR independence the sooner he will deal with that abnormal situation. Otherwise the establishment of other states within the territory of Azerbaijan will become inevitable,” he concluded.