Aliyev on possible format of negotiations

Speaking about the formats of regional cooperation after the Second Karabakh War, the President of Azerbaijan said that everyone should "come to terms with the reality" created after the war.

Speaking at a meeting with members of the public in the Jabrayil region, Ilham Aliyev said that "some people think" that they were left out of the post-war process, and this issue worries them.

"It is their own business. In any case, we have presented a cooperation platform to all neighbouring countries. Azerbaijan was the first country to support the cooperation platform proposed by the Turkish President. If someone is not satisfied, we do not need that platform," Ilham Aliyev said.

According to the President of Azerbaijan, the real framework of practical cooperation in the region is being defined, and Turkish-Russian cooperation is "a guarantor of stability."

"Turkey and Russia have a great role to play in establishing stability in the region today. That is, this format is enough for us. Armenia will join this format because there is no other way," he said.

"We believe that this is necessary for the region. That is, it is already necessary to eliminate any risk of war."

"This format is enough for us - Turkey-Russia-Azerbaijan-Armenia. Whoever wants to join, whoever does not want to can [do as they wish]. In any case, no initiative can be realised in the region today without the consent of Azerbaijan," the Azerbaijani president stated.

At the end of last year, the Turkish President proposed a regional cooperation platform for the South Caucasus with the participation of Russia, Turkey, Azerbaijan, Iran, Georgia and Armenia.

Nikol Pashinyan on Shusha

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said that the Shusha issue has always existed during the talks on the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, "because Azerbaijan has never given up the idea of ​​the return of Karabakh Azerbaijanis and the Armenian side has not disputed it."

During his visit to Lithuania, Nikol Pashinyan met with representatives of the Armenian community of Lithuania and said that the referendum option was discussed during the talks, and the Armenian side agreed to the participation of Karabakh Azerbaijanis in the referendum.

"Where were the Azerbaijani residents supposed to be placed? Of course, where they used to live," Pashinyan said.

The prime minister has been criticised by former government officials for what happened in Shusha.

Shusha was removed from Armenian control during the 44-day war that began in September last year. 

According to Pashinyan, the biggest problem of Armenia in the last 30 years has been that Armenians have not been "faced with reality" for all these years: "Today they talk so much about Shusha. How many houses have been built in Shusha in these 30 years? "Why not? Nobody asks why it wasn't built? What's the reason for that? What's the logic that it wasn't built? They didn't have the money? I think the answer is clear," Pashinyan said.

Kocharyan: "Maybe we need to join a bigger organisation"

Armenia's second president, Robert Kocharyan, believes that from a security point of view, "perhaps Armenia should join a larger organisation."

However, he said he was not ready to give a definite answer to the question "is Armenia in favour of unification with Russia?" "Or is Armenia's independence an indisputable value?"

"Now I am not ready to give an unequivocal answer to this question. I think we need to understand how our independence is under threat now. From a security point of view, I have an idea that maybe we should join a larger organisation," opposition leader Robert Kocharyan told reporters in Yerevan on 4 October.