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Armenian has always been and is the guarantor of the Artsakh security, Armenian Foreign Minister Zohrab Mnatsakanyan told reporters at a briefing on Friday after the closed meeting with the chairman and members of the National Assembly Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs. Mnatsakanyan stressed that Armenia ,however, may have approaches which are subject to further discussions and talks with Artsakh counterparts which is normal.

At a request to comment on the recent statement by Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev saying it was unacceptable what he said Armenia’s efforts to change the negotiations format blocking the talks, the minister said: “We will not initiate steps that would bring the talks into deadlock, we remain committed to the peaceful settlement of the talks and which is key we should decisively move forward toward that,” the minister said.

The Armenian minister said that Armenia is negotiating with authorities of the Nagorno Karabakh Republic then with Azerbaijan under the auspices of the OSCE Minsk Group. In his words, for that reason it would be more efficient to restore the format to ensure the comprehensiveness of the peace process.

“The matter of involving Artsakh in the negotiations is principal and important, yet it is not a precondition. We want to continue finding solutions to the issue. After all, the matter refers to Nagorno Karabakh which is a formed political subject with own institutional structure to express the will and approaches of its people, has an elected leadership and the system is recognized by international community in number of documents,” Minister Mnatsakanyan explained.