President of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev, at an Azerbaijani frontline in 2012 (Photo: president.az)

YEREVAN (ArmRadio)—“Speaking about a peace deal [on the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic (Artsakh) conflict] is impossible unless we have targeted response regarding the maintenance of the ceasefire regime stipulated by the agreements of 1994 and 1995,” said Artak Zakaryan, Chairman of the National Assembly’s Standing Committee on Foreign Relations, at a press conference on Tuesday.

According to him, 2016 failed to register intensification or even restoration of the negotiation process. “We have a negotiation format and negotiations that have stopped at a certain point,” he said, adding that “the meetings held after the April war were aimed at seeking ways out of the stalemate.”

“Considering that there is no negotiation process and the Azerbaijani side is unwilling to return to the table, we have to be ready for any scenarios of development,” Zakaryan said.

He believes that it will be possible to speak about concessions only in case there is real political will to solve the issue, but says he does not see any will on the Azeri side at this point.

“We deal with a neighbor that hopes to solve the issue in a military way, relying upon its economic resources,” Zakaryan said. He added, however, that “the Karabakh issue is perhaps the only conflict in the world that has no military solution even under the conditions of economic privilege.”

The MP said the realization of the right of peoples to self-determination is the cornerstone, while all other details and sequence of actions will stem from the full realization of it.

“Other concessions are impossible as long as Azerbaijan fails to speak about the self-determination of the people of Artsakh and recon with the fact,” he said.

Zakaryan noted that the military-technical cooperation with Russia has intensified after the April war. “The signing of the two agreements on creation of Joint Air Defense System and a Joint Group of Forces is an evidence of this,” he said, adding that Armenia is cooperating with NATO and Iran.