How Can People Occupy Territory Where They Have Lived for Centuries – Pashinyan Responds to Azerbaijani Reporter

ST. PETERSBURG — Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan respondend to an Azerbaijani reporter at a press conference in St. Petersburg, ARMENPRESS reports, citing its correspondent from the Russian city.

In his question referring to the Nagorno-Karabakh (Artsakh) conflict, the journalist used the wording “occupied territories” to which the Armenian reporter responded, “How can a territory be occupied by people, who were born there, whose grandfathers and ancestors were born and lived there? How can that territory be occupied? A territory, where those people have lived for many generations, how can it be occupied?”.

The Armenian PM told the Azerbaijani reporter that the Governments of Armenia and Artsakh are ready to install mechanisms investigating incidents on Artsakh-Azerbaijan contact line.

“In order we avoid the disputes about who, where and when fired, it’s necessary to discuss the agreements reached still back in 2016 in Vienna. I am about the mechanisms investigating incidents in the conflict zone”, Pashinyan added.

Referring to the issue of Arsenal club midfielder Henrikh Mkhitaryan, who did not go to Baku to participate in Europa League final, Pashinyan reminded that a footage went viral on the net where the Azerbaijani police officers approached fans wearing Mkhitaryan’s shirt.

“Only imagine, fans appear in the focus of attention of Azerbaijani police only for wearing Mkhitaryan’s shirts. I think it speaks about everything”, he said, adding that there have been numerous cases when Russian citizens of Armenian origin have not been allowed to enter Azerbaijan.

‘It’s a very bad sign. I think such cases should be ruled out, since they cause more tensions. There is no such issue in Armenia. Recently, a reporter of Azerbaijani “Turan” news agency visited Armenia and I know that he had no troubles. No security issue was even raised”, Pashinyan emphasized,