Nagorno-Karabakh demands to resume trilateral format of negotiations on conflict

The agreement of May 12, 1994, signed by Azerbaijan, Armenia, and Nagorno-Karabakh remains the basis of the ceasefire regime, maintenance of peace and security in Southern Caucasus, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) for Nagorno-Karabakh reports.

According to the website of the Nagorno-Karabakh MFA, the Karabakh Defence Army managed to "force Baku to sit at the negotiating table." The Nagorno-Karabakh MFA also called on Azerbaijan "to abandon the unpromising policy of forcible resolution of the conflict."

On May 10, Stepanakert hosted a conference dedicated to the 25th anniversary of the agreement on the complete cessation of hostilities concluded by Nagorno-Karabakh, Armenia, and Azerbaijan.

Participants of the conference emphasized the need for the participation of Nagorno-Karabakh in the negotiations and called for "elimination of the relapse of large-scale hostilities of April 2016, which led to the deaths of hundreds of people on both sides."

"The agreement ... is a de facto international legal settlement of the Artsakh's victory," stated Shavarsh Kocharyan, Armenian Deputy Foreign Minister.

According to him, "the official Baku does not want to see results, and Armenia is involved in a propaganda war."

"There are two problems in the propaganda war: Azerbaijan speaks of territorial integrity, while the Armenian side speaks of self-determination," Shavarsh Kocharyan explained.

"Baku promotes the issue of returning the occupied territories, but if they believe that the issue can be reconciled with Armenia by military force, then this is absurd," added Vladimir Kazimirov, the former co-chairman of the OSCE Minsk Group.