Nagornokarabakh now the region has been hit by the worst fighting in decades and a cease fire remains elusive with both sides deflecting play my guess this week from year of on is armenian Foreign Ministers or of manasseh kanya how much responsibility does our media bear for the conflicts escalation. Armenian Foreign Ministers or of not the congo on welcome to conflict zone thank you very much there is currently fighting in the disputed region of nagornokarabakh off which is governed by Ethnic Armenians but which is recognized as part of azerbaijan by the International Community hundreds have already been reported dead you have been part of talks to broker to cease fires in that regard and yet the fighting continues what responsibility does armenia and the forces in the region which you back bear for the continued fighting. We have committed ourselves fully to the 2 statements one in moscow the joint statement of the 10th of october and the 2nd one on the 17th of october committed fully to respect the cease fire to go back to the negotiations and to find the peace were a solution to this conflict we have been totally faithful however the journey side as chosen the path of war the 2 cease fires have been by a late hit right away after we have reached an agreement and there has been no call on the line of contact and throughout the territory where the conflict is taking place so we have issued a notice a Statement Today in which today in which we have retreated our food commitment to the agreements that we have breached. And expressed in those 2 statements to one minister you say that you are committed but i would like to put it to you because on saturday the azerbaijani sad side said that 14 people were killed 14 people in the city of ganja the countrys 2nd largest city in an overnight attack and missile fire many you say that youre committed what is your responsibility now let me put it again in the context on the turn provoked over at 12 noon we were supposed to have a cease fire we have been the. Forces have been fully committed to this we have been restrained the showing was continuing the massive offensive have been continuing the armenian nagornokarabakh armenian settlements in the going to karbala ive been on the consistent constant shelling and are blooming the rocket launchers the u. A. B. Have been pounding the cities and villages the towns and villages in the going to come about. Simply we have. 38 amongst the civilians we have and then 16 seriously wounded we have over 8000. Infrastructure and you have casualties the other side says that they have casualties the azerbaijani say that that 60 people have been killed 270 wounded since the flight the fighting so id just like to ask you because im hearing from you both sides are accusing each other they say that you started it you say that they started it either someone or one of you is lying here it doesnt bode well does it for 2 countries who need to sit together and find a peaceful solution to the conflict. Point youre making about the blame game this is exactly the devious part that has been chosen to engage in the blame game in to continue with the attacks on the civilians attacks im going to go in a car bomb consistently we have been calling for the very few creation can score the cease fire and the very few creation of the cease fire american is if the armenian swords in nagornokarabakh in armenia are blamed in anyway then lets go lets do the perpetration mechanism and be done with it however their budget has been consistently avoiding very consistently rejecting those proposals because this is a very convenient way of deception and engaging us into the right lane again while those accusations im going as we havent been mentioned but were going from from both sides mr foreign minister so then i would like to ask you the message ultimately that has been coming from your side. The message from the armenian Prime Minister he said the following in the days after the 1st cease fire was agreed and this is a quote at this decisive moment we will. Not cave and it because this is a fateful war for our people he added to that we will fight till the end and that and is called a free and happy in the garner ill put it to you because i mean this was in the days after the 1st cease fire was agreed and hes talking about fighting to the very end is this really a rhetoric that is supposed to support build support for a cease fire build support for peace look when you have 30 days your people love the story of the 3rd 3 and a half weeks when your people are under such massive attack when they have to every day you have your people subjected to risks of existential threat risks of you know existence on with this when youre funny thing for your life when you have the ceasefire violations consistently. Poignant when you have this situation you obviously you are fighting for your life the armenian science again and for sizing this with full responsibility the armenian sides. Emphasized the importance of the ceasefire and the verification americans i read through strongly the commitment of armenia to respect the cease fire to spread the commitments were undertaken on the turn provoked under 17th of october the nagornokarabakh has also reiterated support to grant but sitting back and waiting when you are killed your family is killed you are you know your your property is destroyed. You have to understand this is what mr foreign minister i said in 3 years since this is now everything that this conflict is about because you are going far dark cannot run on i want to come back to the very important question that you also raised and that is the question of the peace resolution absolutely and we are certainly going to talk about that but before we have there i would just like to put it to you once more russia your partner with whom you have a defense still who has been working very hard at brokering cease fire agreements the foreign minister there Sergey Lavrov reportedly told you to quote halt the provocative warlike rhetoric so i would just like to ask you once again to give you an opportunity it seems as if youre not signaling that youre serious about peace about these negotiations with this type of rhetoric will you take responsibility for that look so far as the rhetoric is concerned we have been dealing with the record rhetoric which is based on the trigger for minions on the encouragement to kill or minions we have today see cases of beheadings and mutilations of our compatriots in the going to occur fuelled by this rhetoric this is not a new thing this has been happening. For a very long time. We have cases of glorification of murderous super minions in nagornokarabakh what i want to come back to is not agree very much the right 3 percent the rhetoric is fueling poison into this and the peaceful resolution has absolutely no alternative this is what we have been so consistent about when it comes to peaceful resolution were working very consistently and we have been. For peace resolution of this on the basis of search arrangement in which the interests of all the parties are taken into account so you acknowledge that the rhetoric is not helpful and that you want to pursue a peaceful solution then therefore i would like to ask you in that context lets talk about how we got here and id like to go go back to more than a year ago for months the tension has in fact been ratcheted up and id like to go back to something that your Prime Minister said this was more than a year ago he travelled to go in a car of our region which is disputed we have to mention and called for the reunification of armenia with car about he said the following. The garneau care about is armenia and that is that he also repeatedly led the crowd and chants of unification the nationalist slogan that gained popularity in the 1980 s. And the 1990 s. As armenians fought for car a box to break away from us a question do you acknowledge that more than a year ago this was a clear provocation of the other side if you want peace why would the Prime Minister travel to go on and say that now let me come back again to the very point that the question about nagornokarabakh is the question of their existence their physical the physical threat they have been confronting over these many many years when the Prime Minister in armenia was saying this he was referring specifically to the responsibility of armenia as the sole gear into the physical security of her competitors are internal to look after the security for our compatriots they defend themselves but there is no guarantee apart from. The Prime Minister in fact has been very consistent in his specific approaches concerning the resolution of the conflict the Prime Minister in that very same speech he was referring to the negotiating process and repeating the very basic approaches that our media has been promoting as a compromise based solution which means the interests of all the parties in that very same speech however what we have been dealing with is this deliberate you know taking out of context of the statement of the Prime Minister we dont have to go to all of the things he has been saying over there and most of the time now in this comment in particular came from your Prime Minister were talking a lot about about the language and the rhetoric and id also like to look at the actions that you have been taking. There is a sin. 3rd road currently planned to be constructed through disputed territory from armenia to have gone on karva a number of e. U. Parliamentary committees have condemned the move this is what they say the decision to build this highway has been taken without the consent of the competent authorities in azerbaijan in violation of International Law so these are not just words here these are real concrete actions on the part of armenia and armenian supported governments in the region these are these provocations are not just words theyre actions arent they now lets take it lets take another look at it that lets look at it through another prism prism for 30 years no other but you know its been taking every effort to isolate nagornokarabakh from this world to isolate any any link of nagornokarabakh people from from from anyone outside. Blocking anything that might be you know referring to the normal normalcy normal life in nagornokarabakh but i think every action that the International Community might take to you know. For the people in a going to have a normal life now nagornokarabakh is. Which people are leaving now we have a situation look now we have a situation where 90000 people were displaced 8000 property and infrastructure is destroyed there is a humanitarian situation in iraq and what are we having are we going to leave them alone or are we going to disregard the lives of our people that that wasnt my question mr foreign minister my question was do you acknowledge that it is a provocative action that you are taking in the region that the other side interprets as a provocative action excuse me saying this again what is not provocative letting our people strangle in. Letting our people in isolation in nagornokarabakh they are less important than any of the people i knew were in the world excuse me i cannot agree with i will never agree with this are people who not be strangled they are people like any other people and this was exactly the policy of nagornokarabakh to degrade them to to deny them the right to live freely in dignity to live in safety and to live in security and know youre telling me that what were doing to make sure that they have the opportunity to live in the removed life is a provocative action i salute you not im just asking you about a road that youre planning to build in the region that the other side sees as a provocation mr foreign minister another action that i would like to also ask you about that has also been seen as a provocation from the other side is the following the fact that there was an election that was held recently the following transpired in relation to that at the inauguration in the city of shop which happens to be happens to have been overwhelmingly populated by azerbaijanis prior to the 1900 to 1904 war and a key symbol of azerbaijans claim to the territory it arouses apparently considerable anger in azerbaijan which was then added to the fact that your Prime Minister had a presence at the inauguration now the europe. Union has acknowledged that the selection was indeed not valid under Legal International standards do you do you acknowledge that this was also provocative again the European Union didnt put it exactly that way the European Union acknowledged that nagornokarabakh is amazing and in view of the socalled swing president ial and parliamentary election waiting to garner. If they reiterated that it does not recognize the constitutional and Legal Framework exactly the constitutional and Legal Framework or would they do nor. For the people of nagornokarabakh to organize their life in a democratic way to their representatives to their representatives by way of a democratic method and the planes coming from our liberty are preposterous to say the least in a society which has. Known nothing but one family rule for since 1960 s. And talking about democratic process and denying our people the democratic process and imposing imposing their methods on the people of nagornokarabakh is not going to work. Id also like to ask you because weve talked so much about peace here id like to ask you about where that process stands and your role in all of that because the International Community has really been calling on you for leadership and compromise on this issue you say that you are working with the o. S. C. Group which has been charged with helping to resolve the conflict but you cant even manage to take action on some of the basic principles that the group put forward more than a decade ago including returning. Territories 7 districts which are surrounding the garneau to azerbaijan so id like to put it to you is territory more important to you than peace the what is most important to us is this again let me repeat the free life in dignity in safety and security were people in the going to karbala therefore what is most important for us is the statutes of nagornokarabakh and the security of nagornokarabakh and this has been very consistent position over armenia and who continue to work on this basis and we do the necessary parameters to work that compromise in which our interests are met while at the same time measured in a measurable. Interest of the parties are also met so it is not. That is more important for us this devastation this pounding consistent pounding. Or bombing and shelling that these people are going through for 3 weeks people are living in shelters people this is happening at a time when cold it is still around in the world the least that there is there but your own particular book is about these things they apparently dont care about that so the british process mr foreign minister whelmed with this choice for war but back to that because now id like to ask you because because the former u. S. Ambassador to to armenia Richard Mills i mean you say that you are supporting peace in the region he assessed the situation as follows upon his departure from the country and 2018 he said that it was disturbing how few armenians were willing to make concessions to azerbaijan over and. Hes quoted as saying the harsh reality is that any settlement is going to require the return of some portion of the occupied territories he doesnt seem to believe that youre serious about it. Well i do not agree with i do not agree with the announcement of Richard Mills i would do i would again read through it and return in saying that i havent seen any sign of compromise coming from what we have been consistently seeing is the maximally and this woman growing hate infused rhetoric and no willingness to compromise on the part of her budget let me put that aside let me go back again to the question of the compromise. For over this past 2 years we have our government has been fully committed to move forward with the with the piece right with us so then let me ask you because when your cover mint took power back in 2018 it was the socalled velvet revolution there was so much hope for a thaw and in the conflict and this is how the International Crisis group assesses the situation they say that progress seemed palpable they said that a new government was ready to see compromise a compromise solution and that it appeared that the government and in azerbaijan also reciprocated but then they said they cited this rhetoric the state for tat rhetoric that we talked about a bit earlier in our conversation and so id like to put it to you the bloodshed the toxic rhetoric from both sides has it limited your capacity to to reach a deal and did you miss an opportunity to seize on that initial hope did you miss your window did you overplay your hand you know i think its a very interesting point you are raising look part 2 for work over the past 2 years within this hour seeming to grow and ship was about creating an environment which is conducive to peace and we have invested a very good effort in that together by the way to get there where theres a bunch of on and would not going to occur we have been working to woods such stamps which would somehow diffuse some you know we use that that. Man show me. We have had a very interesting project implemented in the in the autumn of 2019 when we changed journalists or traveling to baku to europe on and to the point i care and this was a very modest but very important step it didnt fall apart and we had food confidence and we have very good in the standing going there are mean signs that you know we have to invest in creating an environment conducive to peace now what we see is that it was a futile effort and this is very very bad and so far as their opportunities are concerned look it isnt our job it is our responsibility never to give up to you to use every opportunity every window no matter what it is recorded or to walk because this is a responsibility because this is about lives of our people and we care about the lives of our people we care about every single life and now we have so many so many casualties i hope that there is very much on this side also a sense of responsibility we need to see that demonstrated and