The Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan expressed doubts about the presence in Azerbaijan of the potential for a peaceful settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict in his speech at the National Assembly on June 7, 2018.

The statement reads as follows; "The Armenia-Azerbaijan Civil Peace Platform, which was founded on the initiative of the representatives of the Armenian and Azerbaijani peoples in 2016 with the aim of establishing and maintaining a just peace and ensuring lasting reconciliation between the two nations, regrets that the statements of the Prime Minister may foment enmity between our nations and deterring the peacekeeping potential of the two sides.

During the activity of the Armenia-Azerbaijan Civil Peace Platform, dozens of people of Armenian nationality, who left Azerbaijan at the beginning of the conflict, got an opportunity to visit their native and memorable places, meet relatives and friends. Their visits to Azerbaijan and the desire to restore their former ties for the sake of peace, as well as the hearty welcome given to them in Azerbaijani society, are the highest proof of the presence in our nations of peacekeeping potential and the need to take advantage of this inexhaustible resource.

The activities of the Armenia-Azerbaijan Civil Peace Platform to restore confidence between the two neighboring peoples received broad support among civil society of various countries and international institutions. Today, the Armenia-Azerbaijan Civil Peace Platform is the main initiator of further expansion and strengthening of cooperation and development of mechanisms for easing tension and establishing trust between the parties.

We do not want to believe that the statements by Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan are an attempt to resist the peacekeeping initiatives of representatives of the Armenian people.

We firmly know that neither in Azerbaijani nor in Armenian societies there hatred and enmity for ethnic and religious reasons. In addition, the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan needs a speedy peaceful and just settlement in accordance with international law.

Political processes in Armenia and changes in the government give hope for positive changes. Both the new leadership of the country and the representatives of the civil society of Armenia must exert all their efforts to achieve mutual understanding, to resume negotiations and restore peace and trust between Armenia and Azerbaijan".

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