Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan visited the German Foreign Policy Council in Berlin. He met with representatives of political, social, and expert circles and participated in "Security and stability in the South Caucasus. " to discuss Armenia's perspective."

The Prime Minister first gave a speech in which he specifically stated:

"Ladies and gentlemen,

I am delighted to be here today and to address this distinguished audience. First, I would like to thank the Vice Chairman of the Board, Mr. Ralph Nickell, Director Guntram Wolff, and his team for organizing this event.

Today, we are living in a time when not only natural but also geopolitical tectonic shifts are taking place all over the world. Deepening geopolitical instability, growing tension, and unpredictability weaken the world order and international security system. This creates even more significant challenges, especially for Armenia, a democratic country in a complex region, making us more vulnerable.

Dear attendees,

We witnessed the first seeds of today's challenges and the collapse of the European security architecture in our region back in 2020 when Azerbaijan unleashed a war against Nagorno Karabakh.

After signing the tripartite statement on November 9, 2020, Azerbaijan did not give up its policy of hostility and threats. It carried out new aggression, this time against the sovereign territories of the Republic of Armenia in May 2021, November 2021, and September 2022.

During the latest aggression, on September 13-14, 2022, Azerbaijan launched a large-scale military offensive targeting Armenia's military and civilian infrastructure using heavy artillery, missile systems, and drones. As a result, the Armenian side had 225 victims, including three civilians, and more than 150 square kilometers of the sovereign territories of Armenia were occupied.

Today, I would not like to delve into the details of the aggressions of 2020, 2021, and 2022. Still, it is impossible to ignore the many cases of torture of captured or dead Armenian service members (including female service members), facts of amputations, and other atrocities of the Azerbaijani military. The international community must recognize and address the horrifying videos circulating where the Azerbaijani army is committing "IS-style" war crimes by executing Armenian prisoners of war. Another problem is the involvement of mercenaries from Syria by Azerbaijan.

During the September 2022 aggression, when Armenia's external security system failed, we requested an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council, which took place on September 15, 2022. During the session, the member states of the UN Security Council stated that the use of force is unacceptable, openly pointed to the aggressor, Azerbaijan, emphasized the importance of observing the norms of international humanitarian law, also stressing the fact of targeting civil infrastructures in the territory of Armenia.

An essential step towards the de-escalation of the situation was the quadrilateral meeting of President Macron, President Michel, President Aliyev, and myself on October 6, 2022, in Prague, where an agreement was reached on the deployment of a short-term monitoring mission of the EU along the international border between Armenia and Azerbaijan.

When the mandate of this mission ended on December 19, 2022, at the request of Armenia, the EU Council decided to deploy a new, full-fledged civilian mission (EUMA) in the territory of the Republic of Armenia for two years.

On behalf of the Government of Armenia, I would like to express our gratitude to the EU and its member states, particularly the Government of the Federal Republic of Germany, for supporting our request. The mission started on February 20, and I have already met with the head of the mission, Mr. Markus Ritter, your compatriot with extensive experience in international deployment, in Yerevan.

The mission will be crucial in ensuring security on the ground and stability in the region. It will also provide timely and reliable reporting on the current situation to our partners in the EU and its member states.

Dear Colleagues,

Azerbaijan, grossly violating the provisions of the tripartite declaration of November 9, 2020, has been illegally blocking the Lachin Corridor connecting Nagorno-Karabakh to Armenia since December 12, 2022.

The blockade has led to a humanitarian disaster. The 120,000 Armenians of Nagorno Karabakh are deprived of natural gas, electricity, food, medical, and other vital supplies.

Due to the severe shortage of food and other essential products, the authorities of Nagorno-Karabakh had to take desperate measures: to issue food coupons and to distribute certain types of food according to daily rations. The population has access to only irregular power supply from local power producers. Universities, schools, and kindergartens were closed, so more than 30 thousand students and children were deprived of the right to education.

On December 20, 2022, at the request of the Republic of Armenia, an emergency session of the UN Security Council was held regarding the situation created as a result of the blockade of the Lachin Corridor.

The vast majority of the members of the UN Security Council presented precise demands to stop the blockade of the corridor by Azerbaijan and to ensure the access of international organizations to Nagorno Karabakh. Many countries and organizations condemned the Lachin Corridor's blockade and called Azerbaijan to stop it. The Republic of Armenia is trying to send a UN and OSCE fact-finding mission to Nagorno Karabakh and Lachine Corridor.

The Republic of Armenia has also submitted a request to the International Court of Justice of the United Nations for interim measures to unblock the Lachine Corridor under the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (CERD). On February 22, 2023, the International Court of Justice demanded that Azerbaijan take all measures to ensure the unhindered movement of people, vehicles, and cargo in both directions through the Lachin Corridor.

Unfortunately, Azerbaijan still needs to comply with the decision of the International Monetary Fund, and traffic through the Lachin Corridor continues to be disrupted. Although the natural gas supply has been restored, the electricity supply to Nagorno Karabakh, suspended on January 9, 2023, has yet to be fixed. Vouchers still provide food and suppli-depriving people with access to urgent medical care. Only the Red Cross and Russian peacekeepers can deliver a limited amount of food and vital goods to Nagorno-Karabakh and transport people needing emergency medical intervention to Armenian hospitals.

Azerbaijan's growing aggressiveness towards Nagorno-Karabakh makes clear Azerbaijan's intentions to carry out the ethnic cleansing of Armenians. Recently, the President of Azerbaijan, Aliyev, announced that the Lachin Corridor is open for those Armenians who want to leave Karabakh. It means that the Lachin corridor is closed for those Armenians who live in Nagorno-Karabakh.

Dear attendees,

Despite the above, the Armenian government has shown political will. It is taking decisive steps to open a new era of peace and stability in the South Caucasus and is constructively involved in the Armenia-Azerbaijan negotiations.

The Armenia-Azerbaijan negotiation process is proceeding in the following three main directions. Agreement on regulating relations between Armenia and Azerbaijan, unblocking and demarcating transport communications and economic ties in the region, and security.

Armenia agreed to separate the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh problem from the Armenian-Azerbaijani process, with the logic that an international discussion mechanism would be formed between Stepanakert and Baku. Armenia needs to create a guarantee mechanism aimed at solving the security and rights problems of Nagorno Karabakh Armenians, which will have international visibility and involvement.

Without going into details, I would like to note that humanitarian issues, such as the return of all Armenian prisoners of war and the entry of international organizations into Nagorno Karabakh, remain unresolved and are issues of primary concern for us. We strongly condemn Azerbaijan's continued violations of the Geneva Convention on Prisoners of War, as at least 33 Armenian prisoners of war have been sentenced to various terms of imprisonment on entirely fictitious charges. The fact that Azerbaijan refuses to return Armenian prisoners of war to their homeland is another violation of point 8 of the tripartite statement of November 9, 2020, by Azerbaijan.

Ladies and gentlemen,

Another aspect of our vision of regional peace is the regulation of relations with Turkey. We are ready to regulate relations with Turkey, to establish diplomatic ties fully. We hope to fully open our common border unilaterally closed by Turkey in the early 90s.

We have some small but encouraging signs of moving forward. In July 2022, the special representatives of our countries agreed to establish air cargo transportation and open interstate borders for citizens of third countries.

In January, the ban on direct air cargo between Turkey and Armenia was lifted, and we hope the latter reacted quickly. I called President Erdogan to express my condolences and offered our support. After that, we sent humanitarian aid and a rescue team to the affected regions. Two humanitarian assistance convoys entered Turkey through the border bridge, which has been closed for 30 years. Our rescue squad returned to Armenia via that same bridge.

The Foreign Minister of Armenia visited Turkey, met with his counterpart, and reaffirmed our readiness to regulate relations fully. Although the recent contacts were purely humanitarian, we would still be happy to see political results.

Dear friends,

I want to emphasize that the EU is one of our main partners on our path to democratic reform. In this context, I would like to point out that Germany is Armenia's leading political and economic partner, which supports the development and our internal reforms.

Continuing the topic of cooperation with the EU, I would like to inform you about a new important format of the Armenia-EU partnership agenda, the Political and Security Dialogue, the inaugural meeting last January in Yerevan. The discussion on various issues, including the general regional situation and prospects for deepening our cooperation in certain areas, was timely and significantly enriched the agenda of our diverse partnership with the EU.

In this context, I want to emphasize that the basis of our cooperation with the EU is democracy. And according to the latest "General Assessment Index of the Eastern Partnership Member States," Armenia topped the "Democracy and Good Governance" ranking among the EaP member countries and is a leader in the following five areas: fight against corruption, independent judicial system, freedom of opinion and speech, freedom of assembly and association, independent media and democratic rights, elections and political pluralism.

Despite all the challenges, our security architecture cannot be comprehensive without respect for human rights, the rule of law, and democracy. Democracy is a strategy for us. We will continue with reforms to strengthen the rule of law, effective governance, and the fight against corruption to ensure our people's well-being.

The peaceful, democratic revolution of 2018, followed by the extraordinary parliamentary elections of 2021, proved that the path to the democratic development of Armenia is irreversible. In this sense, the parliamentary elections of 2021 were exceptional. This was the first time the elections in Armenia served as a tool to escape the political crisis. I mean the internal political problem we had after the 44-day war of 2020. Elections usually cause a political situation in our country; this was the case from 1994 to 2018.

But after the democratic revolution of 2018, this page is closed, and Armenia is now an internationally recognized democratic country. However, recent security challenges raise serious questions about whether democracy can provide security.

Is the Armenian democracy capable of providing security? This question worries the Armeniociety today and is a problem our government should address. Thanks for your attention".

Then the Prime Minister answered the questions of the audience. Regarding unblocking regional infrastructures, Nikol Pashinyan said: "You know, it is essential to note that sometimes the exact words can have different meanings in different regions. Thus, when we say corridor in Europe, we usually mean communication, transportation, etc. But in our case, the reality is different. Why? This is due to 2020 by the tripartite declaration of November 9 because, in that tripartite declaration, we have only one mention of the corridor: the Lachin Corridor, which, according to the trilateral word, should be and is beyond the control of Azerbaijan.

And this is with the agreement of Azerbaijan, and the president of Azerbaijan signed the tripartite declaration. In the same statement, we have a point about communication, which is about regional communication, transport routes, etc. And this is the only point about the corridor through the territory of Armenia. There is a significant circumstance: when the president of Azerbaijan publicly said that the so-called clause about the passage you mentioned does not exist, and Azerbaijan itself invented this term after signing the trilateral declaration, according to the statement, and it is with the agreement of the president of Azerbaijan, the Lachin corridor is located beyond the control of Azerbaijan.

Dear Colleagues,

Azerbaijan, grossly violating the provisions of the tripartite declaration of November 9, 2020, has been illegally blocking the Lachin Corridor connecting Nagorno-Karabakh to Armenia since December 12, 2022.

The blockade has led to a humanitarian disaster. The 120,000 Armenians of Nagorno Karabakh are deprived of natural gas, electricity, food, medical, and other vital supplies.

Due to the severe shortage of food and other essential products, the authorities of Nagorno-Karabakh had to take desperate measures: to issue food coupons and to distribute certain types of food according to daily rations. The population has access to only irregular power supply from local power producers. Universities, schools, and kindergartens were closed, so more than 30 thousand students and children were deprived of the right to education.

On December 20, 2022, at the request of the Republic of Armenia, an emergency session of the UN Security Council was held regarding the situation created as a result of the blockade of the Lachin Corridor.

The vast majority of the members of the UN Security Council presented precise demands to stop the blockade of the corridor by Azerbaijan and to ensure the access of international organizations to Nagorno Karabakh. Many countries and organizations condemned the Lachin Corridor's blockade and called Azerbaijan to stop it. The Republic of Armenia is trying to send a UN and OSCE fact-finding mission to Nagorno Karabakh and Lachine Corridor.

The Republic of Armenia has also submitted a request to the International Court of Justice of the United Nations for interim measures to unblock the Lachine Corridor under the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (CERD). On February 22, 2023, the International Court of Justice demanded that Azerbaijan take all measures to ensure the unhindered movement of people, vehicles, and cargo in both directions through the Lachin Corridor.

Unfortunately, Azerbaijan still needs to comply with the decision of the International Monetary Fund, and traffic through the Lachin Corridor continues to be disrupted. Although the natural gas supply has been restored, the electricity supply to Nagorno Karabakh, suspended on January 9, 2023, has yet to be fixed. Vouchers still provide food supplies, depriving people of access to urgent medical care. Only the Red Cross and Russian peacekeepers can deliver a limited amount of food and vital goods to Nagorno-Karabakh and transport people needing emergency medical intervention to Armenian hospitals.

Azerbaijan's growing aggressiveness towards Nagorno-Karabakh makes clear Azerbaijan's intentions to carry out the ethnic cleansing of Armenians. Recently, the President of Azerbaijan, Aliyev, announced that the Lachin Corridor is open for those Armenians who want to leave Karabakh. It means that the Lachin corridor is closed for those Armenians who live in Nagorno-Karabakh.

Dear attendees,

Despite the above, the Armenian government has shown political will. It is taking decisive steps to open a new era of peace and stability in the South Caucasus and is constructively involved in the Armenia-Azerbaijan negotiations.

The Armenia-Azerbaijan negotiation process is proceeding in the following three main directions. Agreement on regulating relations between Armenia and Azerbaijan, unblocking and demarcation of transport communications and economic ties in the region, and security.

Armenia agreed to separate the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh problem from the Armenian-Azerbaijani process, with the logic that an international discussion mechanism would be formed between Stepanakert and Baku. Armenia needs to create a guarantee mechanism aimed at solving the security and rights problems of Nagorno Karabakh Armenians, which will have international visibility and involvement.

Without going into details, I would like to note that humanitarian issues, such as the return of all Armenian prisoners of war and the entry of international organizations into Nagorno Karabakh, remain unresolved and are issues of primary concern for us. We strongly condemn Azerbaijan's continued violations of the Geneva Convention on Prisoners of War, as at least 33 Armenian prisoners of war have been sentenced to various terms of imprisonment on entirely fictitious charges. The fact that Azerbaijan refuses to return Armenian prisoners of war to their homeland is another violation of point 8 of the tripartite statement of November 9, 2020, by Azerbaijan.

Ladies and gentlemen,

Another aspect of our vision of regional peace is the regulation of relations with Turkey. We are ready to regulate relations with Turkey, to establish diplomatic ties fully. We hope to fully open our common border unilaterally closed by Turkey in the early 90s.

We have some small but encouraging signs of moving forward. In July 2022, the special representatives of our countries agreed to establish air cargo transportation and open interstate borders for citizens of third countries.

The ban on direct air cargo between Turkey and Armenia was lifted in January, and we hope the border will soon be opened to third-country nationals.

Also, I met with President Erdogan in 2022 within the framework of the European Political Community Summit in Prague, where we discussed the prospects for normalizing relations.

After the last devastating earthquake, Armenia reacted quickly. I called President Erdogan to express my condolences and offered our support. After that, we sent humanitarian aid and a rescue team to the affected regions. Two humanitarian assistance convoys entered Turkey through the border bridge, which has been closed for 30 years. Our rescue squad returned to Armenia via that same bridge.

The Foreign Minister of Armenia visited Turkey, met with his counterpart, and reaffirmed our readiness to regulate relations fully. Although the recent contacts were purely humanitarian, we would still be happy to see political results.

Dear friends,

I want to emphasize that the EU is one of our main partners on our path to democratic reform. In this context, I would like to point out that Germany is Armenia's leading political and economic partner, which supports the development and our internal reforms.

Continuing the topic of cooperation with the EU, I would like to inform you about a new important format of the Armenia-EU partnership agenda, the Political and Security Dialogue, the inaugural meeting last January in Yerevan. The discussion on various issues, including the general regional situation and prospects for deepening our cooperation in certain areas, was timely and significantly enriched the agenda of our diverse partnership with the EU.

In this context, I want to emphasize that the basis of our cooperation with the EU is democracy. And according to the latest "General Assessment Index of the Eastern Partnership Member States," Armenia topped the "Democracy and Good Governance" ranking among the EaP member countries and is a leader in the following five areas: fight against corruption, independent judicial system, freedom of opinion and speech, freedom of assembly and association, independent media and democratic rights, elections and political pluralism.

Despite all the challenges, our security architecture cannot be comprehensive without respect for human rights, the rule of law, and democracy. Democracy is a strategy for us. We will continue with reforms to strengthen the rule of law, effective governance, and the fight against corruption to ensure our people's well-being.

The peaceful, democratic revolution of 2018, followed by the extraordinary parliamentary elections of 2021, proved that the path to the democratic development of Armenia is irreversible. In this sense, the parliamentary elections of 2021 were exceptional. This was the first time the elections in Armenia served as a tool to escape the political crisis. I mean the internal political problem we had after the 44-day war of 2020. Elections usually cause a political situation in our country; this was the case from 1994 to 2018.

But after the democratic revolution of 2018, this page is closed, and Armenia is now an internationally recognized democratic country. However, recent security challenges raise serious questions about whether democracy can provide security.

Is the Armenian democracy capable of providing security? This question worries the Armeniociety today and is a problem our government should address. Thanks for your attention".

Then the Prime Minister answered the questions of the audience. Regarding unblocking regional infrastructures, Nikol Pashinyan said: "You know, it is essential to note that sometimes the exact words can have different meanings in different regions. Thus, when we say corridor in Europe, we usually mean communication, transportation, etc. But in our case, the reality is different. Why? This is due to 2020 by the tripartite declaration of November 9 because, in that tripartite declaration, we have only one mention of the corridor: the Lachin Corridor, which, according to the trilateral word, should be and is beyond the control of Azerbaijan.

And this is with the agreement of Azerbaijan, and the president of Azerbaijan signed the tripartite declaration. In the same statement, we have a point about communication, which is about regional communication, transport routes, etc. And this is the only point about the corridor through the territory of Armenia. There is a significant circumstance: when the president of Azerbaijan publicly said that the so-called clause about the passage you mentioned does not exist, and Azerbaijan itself invented this term after signing the trilateral declaration, according to the statement, and it is with the agreement of the president of Azerbaijan, the Lachin corridor is located beyond the control of Azerbaijan.

On the other hand, we have accepted that bilaterally, not only Armenia but also Azerbaijan; we should open all economic and communication routes. And there is no clause according to which these routes should be outside the control of Armenia. We have repeatedly stated that this is a red line for us. On the other hand, we have announced, and there is no exaggeration here, that Armenia is ready to open all communications even tomorrow, even tonight. By the way, we had a tripartite meeting in Brussels in 2021. on December 14, we reached a concrete agreement to repair the railway, which passes through the south of Armenia and can go to Turkey, Iran, and Russia through Azerbaijan. We got a deal; it was published. There was a critical nuance there. According to this agreement, the railway should operate under the laws of the countries it passes.

Unfortunately, a week after that, Azerbaijan refused to sign what was already agreed upon in the presence of the President of the European Council, Charles Michel. Thus, why is there subtlety? Saying "Zangezur Corridor" means supporting Azerbaijan's territorial ambitions towards Armenia. And please consider that the same word can have different meanings in different regions and political circumstances. This is my answer."

Referring to the issue of democracy in Armenia, the Prime Minister said. "I want to emphasize that there is no internal threat to democracy in Armenia. I think that the 2021 elections proved it. But, on the other hand, we have external threats to our democracy. And Azerbaijan's continuous escalations, aggressive rhetoric, and hate speech significantly threaten Armenian democracy. By the way, I want to mention a significant fact. 2020 Azerbaijan invaded the sovereign territory of Armenia for the first time after the war in 2021, on May 12. And this happened just two days after I resigned from the post of Prime Minister, and early elections were coming up. It is a constitutional process. Extra parliamentary elections must occur if a new prime minister is not elected after the prime minister's resignation. And when we announced that we would hold special parliamentary elections, Azerbaijan invaded Armenian territories two days later.

It was an attempt to influence the results of the elections, destroy all the democratic achievements of the Republic of Armenia, create the opposite situation, prevent the elections from taking place, and lower the legitimacy of the Armenian government. But even under these circumstances, we remained committed to democracy. And we managed to hold free and democratic elections, and this is not our assessment; this is the assessment of the international community and international observers."

Turning to the question about the situation in the region, Prime Minister Pashinyan said. "You know, the situation in our region is becoming increasingly complicated because, due to the events and developments in Ukraine, all international attention is focused on Ukraine. For this reason, during the crisis in Ukraine, a perilous crisis is unfolding in our country, which concerns Nagorno Karabakh and the territorial integrity of Armenia. First, in 2021 In May, Azerbaijan invaded the territory of Nagorno Karabakh, the zone of responsibility of Russian peacekeepers, and after that, we had a big crisis in 2022. in September, when Azerbaijan started large-scale military aggression against Armenia. There are many factors for these developments, but the most important factor is that the international community's attention was or is focused on Ukraine. And it creates even greater opportunities for instability in our region."

Speaking about the Russians who arrived in Armenia, the Prime Minister noted that many people moved to Armenia, particularly from the IT sector. It happened because of specific technical issues because Western organizations usually pay them. After the sanctions, they probably couldn't get a salary and decided to move to Armenia. Maybe they loved our country. And, frankly, we are happy for their presence because it creates additional economic activity in our country. By the way, we recorded 12.5% economic growth in 2022. Not entirely, but partly, this is due to the action of Russian emigrants. I would also like to say something that is not directly related to the issue but related to our regional situation because representatives of Azerbaijan often say that Armenia is a mono-ethnic country. They present it as a very negative fact.

I want to note that we have mandates for national minorities in our parliament, and this is mandatory. According to our Constitution, national minorities have an order in our parliament. And now we have Russian, Assyrian, Kurdish, and Yezidi representatives. By the way, Yezidis are the most significant national minority in our country, and now we have, I think, four guaranteed, mandatory mandates for national minorities. If I'm not mistaken, there are no mandates for national minorities in the Parliament of Azerbaijan.

Regarding relations with Turkey, Nikol Pashinyan said that Armenia never had any precondition for establishing connections with Turkey. 

"And now I can say the same: we don't have any preconditions. We are neighbors and should have relations. And he is talking about it now. Still, the main obstacle to establishing relations between Armenia and Turkey is Azerbaijan's position because Azerbaijan constantly urges Turkey to refrain from establishing relations with Armenia. Maybe I shouldn't say this, but I want you to know the critical nuances of the process. We are ready, without any exaggeration, to open the border today. By the way, we did not close the border; Turkey closed it. But now we have taken a crucial step. As I said, our humanitarian aid reached Turkey through the border. Of course, our reaction and position were entirely based on a humanitarian approach. But if the decision to send humanitarian aid to Turkey also has certain political consequences, we will be happy about that," Nikol Pashinyan emphasized.

The Prime Minister noted the question of the representative of Azerbaijan regarding the Lachin Corridor. "Let me first address the question of the representative of the Azerbaijani consul. I just wanted to point out that the International Court of Justice recently, on February 20, rejected Azerbaijan's claim against Armenia in a parallel lawsuit regarding alleged mine-laying by Armenia. The International Court of Justice rejected Azerbaijan's claims that Armenia or Nagorno-Karabakh used the Lachin Corridor for military purposes. So, I don't need to respond because the International Court of Justice has already responded. As for the issue of bilateral recognition of territorial integrity, it has already been talked about. According to the results of the quadrilateral meeting in Prague, there is a clause according to which Azerbaijan and Armenia recognize each other's territorial integrity and agree that the delimitation process should be based on the Alma-Ata Declaration of 1991. We are talking about the establishment of the Commonwealth of Independent States. And that declaration says that administrative divisions between former Soviet republics become state borders. And according to the Prague agreement, the delimitation process should be based on this principle. But if I'm correct, ten days after that, Azerbaijani President Aliyev announced that the delimitation process between Armenia and Azerbaijan should be based on historical maps. What do historical maps mean when we have already reached an agreement? We agreed to recognize each other's territorial integrity based on that declaration. Moreover, recently the President of Azerbaijan introduced a new initiative called "Western Azerbaijan." Do you know what that means? It means that Armenia does not have a sovereign territory; the entire territory of the Republic of Armenia is the so-called "Western Azerbaijan," saying in parallel that we want peace, etc. This is a bizarre situation. This is the main problem of our relationship. We agreed with the tripartite statement of November 9, 2020; we signed it. The President of Azerbaijan, I, and the President of Russia signed that document. We have reached an agreement. It was a tough decision for me and Armenia. There is a clause according to which all prisoners of war and detained persons should be repatriated, but so far, we have 33 prisoners of war, and we have a civilian who is a prisoner. He was a representative of a charity organization, which the Azerbaijanis caught in the corridor of Lachin, and he was sentenced to 25 years in prison. Do you know why? Three days before that, he went live on Facebook and said something that the President of Azerbaijan did not like. And now, according to the decision of the Azerbaijani court, he is a "spy, terrorist, murderer."

Turning to the question of another Azerbaijani representative, Nikol Pashinyan noted that in 2018, when he became the Prime Minister of Armenia, he addressed social media users in Armenia and Azerbaijan during one of the press conferences, asking them not to use that platform for hate speech, aggressive, offensive rhetoric, but try to talk to each other and understand each other's position. "But, unfortunately, my initiative failed. But I completely agree with you. We must focus on a positive future, on the future of our common region, because it is a fact that the three states of the South Caucasus - Armenia, Georgia, and Azerbaijan - have extreme cultural similarities. That is a fact. And we should focus on the positive aspects. And you are right; we are interested; maybe Armenia is even more interested in the opening of regional communications, and that is the reason why Azerbaijan is trying, so to speak, to sell it at the highest possible price. We should focus on positive opportunities for peace and cooperation. I owe the peace agenda to Armenia or Azerbaijan because now we have observers in the region, and now there will be no need for the EU to ask which side was the initiator. Now you have your source of information. In general, I would like to say that our political team, the parliamentary majority, has taken responsibility for the peace agenda, and now we have a mandate for the peace agenda. We are focused on the implementation of that mandate. And we need the support of the international community and our region's nations, and we are ready to bear that responsibility until we reach a final and lasting peace. And recently, I announced in our parliament and government that I am fully determined to sign a peace treaty with Azerbaijan. Still, it should not be a document similar to a capitulation for Armenia. It should be a real and lasting peace document for our region, and I am ready to bear that responsibility for peace, stability, and regional and international cooperation. This is the conclusion of our discussion today. Thank you," Prime Minister Pashinyan concluded.