Armenpress presents the FM’s interview:
BBC: Minister, I ask you to respond to the Azeri accusation that it was Armenia’s actions that sparked this conflict.
Zohrab Mnatsakanyan: There is absolutely no interest or intention for Armenia or Nagorno-Karabakh to escalate the situation. We have been rejecting the military option for the resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. So, it is absolutely unacceptable to enter this blame game. This attack against Nagorno-Karabakh and the tensions remain very, very high at the moment.
BBC: When you say the tensions remain very high would you regard it as something that could potentially spill over into a full-scale war?
Zohrab Mnatsakanyan: We have to make every effort to avoid that because that would be a massive destabilization of the entire region and we are rejecting such option. And again we are rejecting the military option for the resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
BBC: So when you say you are rejecting the military option what are you doing to try and make that manifest?
Zohrab Mnatsakanyan: At the moment the defence forces of Nagorno-Karabakh are left with little option but to defend themselves because they are now confronting massive attacks by the Azerbaijani armed forces across the line of contact between Nagorno-Karabakh and Azerbaijan. At the moment the priority is to repel the attacks of the Azerbaijani forces and to compel them to come back to the negotiating table.
BBC: Civilians have been killed in this recent spike in the conflict. Do you acknowledge that this region is internationally recognized as being part of Azerbaijan?
Zohrab Mnatsakanyan: Nagorno-Karabakh has been exercising its right to self-determination. Nagorno-Karabakh is a historical land of Armenia. The Armenian population in Nagorno-Karabakh they have been subject to massive discrimination throughout the entire period when by way of the decision of the Bolshevik government to transfer it to Azerbaijan.
BBC: So the answer to that question then is “no”. You do not recognize as the rest of the world does that Nagorno-Karabakh is internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan.
Zohrab Mnatsakanyan: The status of Nagorno-Karabakh is one of the key issues in the negotiating package; is one of the key issues to resolve that through negotiations and through a compromise.
BBC: You must be very concerned though that this could become a very dangerous and very serious proxy war. President Erdogan of Turkey is not only supporting Azerbaijan, not an easy promising support for Azerbaijan he said that it’s your country-Armenia, which was the biggest threat to peace in the region.
Zohrab Mnatsakanyan: President Erdogan and Turkey have been the most destabilizing factor in this entire situation. Turkey has been effectively projecting its power and destabilizing policies as they were doing across the entire neighborhood to Turkey from the East Mediterranean to the Middle East. They are basically exporting that destabilization to the region of South Caucasus. We do not welcome that and we totally reject that.
BBC: It is quite clear though that the Azerbaijani institutions and officials are very concerned about a large shipment of Russian weapons that have been sent to Armenia. Is Russia now supplying Armenia?
Zohrab Mnatsakanyan: Well, Armenia has been making sure that it is fu...
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