Pashinyan takes part in Victory Day celebrations in Stepanakert

Nikol Pashinyan, the Prime Minister of Armenia, made his first foreign visit to Stepanakert and took part in the annual march dedicated to the memory of the victims of the Great Patriotic War and the Karabakh conflict.

The annual walking march in Stepanakert has passed from Renaissance Square to the memorial complex.

The marchers carried flags of Armenia and the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic (NKR), chanting "Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh, – note of the "Caucasian Knot") means Armenia!" Military servicemen and students of the military college greeted the marchers in different road sections.

The march ended with laying wreaths and flowers at the monument to the heroes of the Great Patriotic War (WWII) and to the graves of soldiers who perished in the course of the Karabakh conflict.

The leaders of Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh not only participated in the commemoration events, but also held a number of meetings, the press service of the President's office of the NKR reports.

"Nagorno-Karabakh should take a direct part in negotiations on the settlement of the conflict and sit down at the negotiating table," the Armenian Prime Minister has stated at today's meeting with representatives of more than 35 media outlets of the NKR, Armenia, Russia and other countries in the hall of the Stepanakert "Vallex Garden" Hotel.

Mr Pashinyan has noted that he is ready to run talks on behalf of Armenia, but negotiations on behalf of the NKR should be run by its leadership as a recognized party in conflict. "We can think about concessions, only if Azerbaijan recognizes the right of the Karabakh people to self-determination," Nikol Pashinyan told the reporters.

Full text of the article is available on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’.