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Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) should be obviously involved in the peace process to settle the conflict with Azerbaijan, with the issue even raised by the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs, Deputy Foreign Minister Shavarsh Kocharyan told reporters on Tuesday, commenting on Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan's statement stressing Artsakh must become a party to the talks.

He stressed that if the Kazan meeting (held between Armenian and Azerbaijani presidents in 2011) had been successful, Artsakh would also have approved the document, and the three countries would jointly work on a peace treaty.

“It is obviously impossible to achieve any progress without the participation of Artsakh – the main party to the conflict,” the official said.

According to Kocharyan, the fact that Artsakh is presently left out of the negotiations is due to Azerbaijan’s destructive stance.

“On the other hand, the Co-Chairs are well aware that Armenia cannot negotiate instead of Artsakh, and once an opportunity to make progress appears, Artsakh will join,” he said, adding the country’s participation or non-participation in the peace process shows weather Azerbaijan actually seeks progress in the talks or uses the peace process to proceed with its unconstructive policy. 

He also added the negotiations aimed at settling the Artsakh conflict will continue in the same way as before.