BAKU, May 8. /TASS/. Armenian new Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s statements on the Nagorno-Karabakh settlement leave Baku asking more questions rather than give any answers, Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry Spokesman Khikmet Gadzhiyev said on Tuesday.
"The first statements of the newly elected Armenian Prime Minister, Niko Pashinyan, concerning the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict general more questions than answers," he said.
"What is it? Naivety, lack of knowledge or chest-thumping of the winner, or, maybe, all of that together? Let’s wait and see," he said.
"At the beginning of the process, Azerbaijan said it hoped that rational forces would come to power in Armenia and that they would be able to see the current situation in the region in a realistic way and make vital for Armenia and the Armenian people decision concerning peaceful settlement of the conflict, Gadzhiyev said. "We must not fall into the same trap over and over again."
The conflict between neighboring Armenia and Azerbaijan over the highland region of Nagorno-Karabakh, a disputed territory that had been part of Azerbaijan before the Soviet Union break-up but was mainly populated by Armenians, broke out in the late 1980s.
In 1991-1994, the confrontation spilled over into large-scale military action for control over the enclave and some adjacent territories after Azerbaijan lost control of them. Thousands left their homes on both sides in a conflict that killed 30,000. A truce was called between Armenia and the Nagorno-Karabakh republic on one side and Azerbaijan on the other in May 1994.
Talks on the Nagorno-Karabakh settlement have been held since 1992 in the format of the so-called OSCE Minsk Group, comprising along with its three co-chairs - Russia, France and the United States - Belarus, Germany, Italy, Sweden, Finland and Turkey.