ROBERT KOCHARIAN: ARMENIA CALMLY ACCOUNTS AZERBAIJAN’S WARLIKE STATEMENTS

Armenia takes a calm consideration of the statements made by official Baku regarding the military settlement of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict, Armenian President Robert Kocharian said when commenting to Zerkalo Russian TV program on the statement of Azeri President Ilham Aliyes’s, who said that if the coming diplomatic negotiations on the conflict settlement show no positive result, “Azerbaijan is ready to apply other methods”. In Kocharian’s words, statements of the kind have been heard since 1994, that is since the moment the armistice was concluded and then at the time of former President Heydar Aliyev. Armenia is ready to settle the problem by diplomatic means, actively participating in the negotiation process, but if Azerbaijan tries to solve the problem in a different way, we will give an adequate response, RA President said. In Kocharian’s opinion, such statements should be considered from several angles taking into account the notion of publicity. When touching upon the high-level negotiations, the Armenian leader noted of his “positive impression” of the two meetings with Ilham Aliyev, emphasizing that during the last meeting in Warsaw there existed the aspiration to settle the conflict. “In this context warlike statements cannot contribute to the settlement as they beget counteraction of other conflicting parties. Thus, political figures should refrain from such statements not to become dependent on them in future”, the Armenian President noted.