Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan expects France to recognize the sovereignty of Nagorno-Karabakh region as an independent state, according to Russia Today on Friday.
Pashinyan has called on the world to recognize the independence of the disputed region which is still subject to a decades-long feud between Yerevan and Baku, believing that Paris will be one of the first to do this.
Pashinyan spoke to French network TV5Monde and said that he expects the French president to recognize the independence of Nagorno-Karabakh.
“I do believe that there is no other way to address the concerns raised by Emmanuel Macron in the current situation,” Pashinyan said.
Along with US President Donald Trump, Russian President Vladimir Putin and French President Emmanuel Macron last week called for “an immediate cessation of hostilities between the relevant military forces.
Last week, Macron proposed the resumption of talks between Azerbaijan and Armenia, after speaking by phone with each country’s leader.
The dispute between Azerbaijan and Armenia is decades old, with both countries believing they have strong claims over Nagorno-Karabakh.
The region is internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan but is primarily populated by ethnic Armenians. Baku considers the enclave to be illegally occupied by Armenia.
Fighting between Azerbaijani and Armenian-backed forces flared up on September 27, with each side accusing the other of restarting the conflict.
On the other hand, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said that he offers Armenia “the last chance” to return to negotiations and withdraw its forces from the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh.
In a televised address to the people of his country, aired on Friday, Aliyev said that Armenia should accept the basic principles for settling the Karabakh conflict and leave the occupied territories of Azerbaijan.
The president of Azerbaijan stressed that he does not agree with the proposition that this conflict has no military solution, adding that his country changed the status quo imposed by Armenia in Karabakh.
The president of Azerbaijan stated that Azerbaijan would regain its lands by any means, but it wanted to do so peacefully and give Armenia “the last chance.”, expressing his readiness to return to talks on Karabakh but renewed his adherence to the full sovereignty of his country over the region.
Aliyev warned that there would be no negotiations if Armenia insisted that Karabakh be considered part of its territory.
Aliyev’s remarks coincided with the start of talks in Moscow between the foreign ministers of Armenia and Azerbaijan, mediated by Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.
Lavrov said that these talks would clarify “many things” and would set the basic principles for settling the crisis in the region.
Russian Foreign Ministry announced today that Armenia and Azerbaijan confirmed their participation in consultations in Moscow, against the backdrop of the Karabakh region.
On her part, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova pointed out that Yerevan and Baku have confirmed the participation of their foreign ministers in the consultations scheduled to be held in Moscow on Friday.
