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Elmar Mammadyarov: “There is no future of Armenians unless they normalize relations with Azerbaijan”

05 April 2019 19:22 (UTC +04:00)

The Vienna meeting showed that despite all the challenges, we have to try to identify possibilities, said Minister of Foreign Affairs Elmar Mammadyarov, ONA reports.

He stated that after the 3-hour meeting, the Armenian Defense Minister issued a "new territories - a new war" statement: "On the one hand, it is clear that it is calculated for the internal audience. Armenia should understand that you have to try to normalize 30 years bad relations with your neighbour. Armenians say that the diaspora will help them. Which diaspora have given you the money resources? Which diaspora representative has moved to Armenia? Only former Minister of Foreign Affairs Vardan Oskanyan moved back to Armenia. He hoped that he will meet with free Armenia. It means there is no confidence. Our position is that it is necessary to prepare the nation to the peace. We have also discussed it with Sergey Lavrov. The mutual visits of journalists can be organized. Armenians claim that the peace instead of land is unacceptable for Armenia. I think this is not the right approach. What has Armenia obtained from the conflict with the neighbour for 30 years? Sometimes, we are asked what have you got? Our economy, roads, railways are developed. We are selling oil, new oil rigs are constructed. I can count numerous examples. They have to convince their citizens. This is for their future. Sometimes they say Karabakh Armenians are hard people to agree with. This is your issue. You have to convince them that there is no future of Armenians unless they normalize relations with Azerbaijan.

The minister also answered the question about if this year is crucial for the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict: “I even wanted the year of 2004, when I was chosen to be minister to be crucial year. I want to state that at that time we with Vardan Oskanyan were discussing concrete plans. Even though these plans were not highlighted in mass media, there was an agreement between us”.