YEREVAN. Oct 21 (Interfax) - The problem of Nagorno-Karabakh cannot be solved diplomatically at its current stage, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said.
"We should realize that the issue of Karabakh, at least at this stage and for a very long time starting from this stage, cannot have a diplomatic solution. All such proposals should be considered finished," Pashinyan said in a live video address on Facebook on Wednesday.
Armenia has always said it is ready to resolve the problem based on a mutual compromise, he said.
"This means we can scale down our requirements for the sake of resolving this problem, but only on the condition that the other side also scale down its requirements. However, experience has shown that everything that's acceptable to Armenia is no longer acceptable to Azerbaijan. This means that it makes no sense to talk about a diplomatic solution, at least at the current stage," Pashinyan said.
Commenting on Pashinyan's statement, the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry called it "irresponsible," saying that by such actions the Armenian prime minister "drives its people into abyss."
The only way to settle the conflict and alleviate tensions in the region is adherence to the international law and violability of and respects for internationally recognized borders of a state, the ministry said in a statement on Wednesday.
"Speaking about the absence of a diplomatic solution to the conflict, Pashinyan openly recognized that Armenia has continued its aggressive policy, and the incumbent authorities of this country are not interested in settling this conflict through negotiations," the statement said.
Meanwhile, press secretary for the Armenian prime minister Mane Gevorgyan said that the Nagorno-Karabakh problem has no solution at its current stage because of "the destructive style" of Azerbaijan's actions.
"We stress once again that the Nagorno-Karabakh problem has no diplomatic solution exactly because of the destructive style of Azerbaijan's work. Nikol Pashinyan has highlighted many times, including in recent days, that the Armenian side is ready for negotiations based on compromise, but the reality showed that this logic is unacceptable to Azerbaijan," Mane Gevorgyan told the Armenpress state-run news agency commenting on Azerbaijan's reaction to Pashinyan's statement.
The Azerbaijani side "in line with its conduct has continued manipulations, distorting the words of Nikol Pashinyan," she said.
"Let me remind of the well-known statement of the prime minister, which goes as follows: a solution to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict should be acceptable to the people of Armenia, the people of Artsakh [Nagorno-Karabakh], and the people of Azerbaijan," she said, adding that the Azerbaijani side made no similar statements on a compromise.