Stepanakert demands its return to the negotiating table as a full party, but Azerbaijan opposes the idea, Prime Minister of the Nagorno Karabakh Republic Araik Haroitiunyan says in an interview with "Vzglyad" Russian business newspaper (vz.ru). "Azerbaijan's non-constructive approach to his issue keeps protracting the final resolution of the conflict. No success is possible unless the Karabakh side is directly involved in the peace process and the population of Karabakh gives its consent to the final settlement option," the prime minister said.
As for the deployment of peacekeepers, the NKR prime minister said: "Since the Karabakh side is not involved in the negotiations as a full party, any plan or proposal, as I have said already, is doomed to failure. No plan has been discussed with us, and it would be wrong to draw any conclusions. In this light, dissemination of any unofficial statements, as the NKR president said, may become a reason for speculation. This applies to the deployment of peacekeepers in the region too. The only guarantor of the Karabakh population's security is the NKR Defense Army."
Unlike Azeraijan, Haroutiunyan said, the NKR Defense Army has never shelled civilians and populated areas deliberately. "We have repeatedly declared and even published photos proving that the Azerbaijani side is deploying artillery in the populated areas to target the Karabakh positions and civilians. Naturally, when the Karabakh side retaliated, the populated areas proved in the risk zone. I am sure they did it to reduce the probability of our retaliations and use the affected populated areas in the anti-Armenian propaganda. This is a gross violations of the humanitarian law, a crime and immoral behavior towards their own population," the prime minister of NKR says.