YEREVAN, AUGUST 21, ARMENRESS. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has chaired a regular meeting of the Security Council on August 21.

In his opening remarks, the Prime Minister said that the Armenian military’s victorious defensive actions against the July Azerbaijani offensive in Tavush Province proved that the Nagorno Karabakh conflict has no military solution, and that it’s time for Baku to accept this.

“We adopted the new National Security Strategy in the last session, and it is noteworthy that shortly afterwards this document’s viability was recorded. After our previous session the well-known Tavush battles took place – the victorious battles of Tavush – and we must note the following: during the entire preceding period Azerbaijan had adopted a stance whereby it was presenting the non-initiation of a military solution to the NK conflict to be a concession for both Armenia and the international community. And during this entire period of time we were calling upon the Azerbaijani leadership not to speak to Armenia from positions of force, language of force, and that it is a futile rhetoric. And inherently the July victorious battles proved this and proved that the Karabakh conflict doesn’t have a military solution. I think it’s time for the Azerbaijani authorities to accept this.”

The PM noted that if the conflict were to have a military solution then the people of Artsakh can note that they have solved the issue a long time ago.

“It is highly important to note that Armenia’s stance in the Karabakh issue remains constructive, and our position is that indeed, the NK conflict must be solved through peaceful negotiations, and inherently this has always been the position of the Republic of Armenia, moreover – regardless of the lineage of governments and authorities.

Pashinyan emphasized that the other factor which is recorded in the strategy and which manifested itself very quickly is Turkey’s destructive policy in the region and globally.

“I believe that Turkey’s destabilizing and destructive activity causes significant concerns and worries among our partners in the Middle East, the Eurasian region, as well as the European region. This is an agenda which is already developed, and our actions in this agenda must also become the subject of highly important discussions at the Security Council, the government, the foreign ministry, and we will discuss issues connected with this during today’s session also,” the PM said.

PM Pashinyan emphasized that the Republic of Armenia is able to deal with its security challenges.

“At the same time, we must put a task before us to further increase the level of manageability of the security environment with every week, every month and every year. And the Security Council is the working format where this kind of issues must be discussed and solved,” the Armenian PM said.

Editing and Translating by Stepan Kocharyan