Azerbaijan unwilling to accept peaceful plan over Karabakh, Armenian parliamentarian says in Strasbourg

Azerbaijan is not willing to accept any scenario proposing a peaceful deal over Nagorno-Karabakh (Artsakh), the head of the Armenian delegation to the Council of Europe's Parliamentary Assembly (PACE) said in Strasbourg.

″Azerbaijan does not want any peaceful resolution in essence,″ Ruben Rubinyan told reporters on the sidelines of the Assembly's Autumns Session.

His statement came as a direct response to Ilham Aliyev's recent remark that ″Nagorno-Karabakh is Azerbaijan and period; there isn’t such thing as people of Nagorno-Karabakh.″

Rubinyan slammed the Azerbaijani leader's rhetoric as a clear-worded proof that his country does not pursue any constructive position.

It comes after Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said in his speech at the UN General Assembly that a peaceful solution to the long-lasting land dispute ″should be acceptable to both Armenia and Azerbaijan, and the people of Nagorno-Karabakh.”

Asked to comment on the viability of the statement in the light of the recent cross-border incidents, Rubinyan said he treats it as yet another proof that ″Azerbaijan won't accept the only available formula proposing the conflict settlement and sticks instead to its belligerent language.″