Nagorno-Karabakh: How are peace talks viewed from Armenia

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00:00 Talks about the future of the breakaway Nagorno-Karabakh territory were held today between Armenian

00:06 separatists and Azerbaijan.

00:08 Azerbaijan called the discussion "constructive," and leaders for both sides agreed to hold

00:14 more talks.

00:16 Azerbaijan's government has said it will focus on Nagorno-Karabakh's reintegration into the

00:21 nation.

00:22 But the future of the region and the more than 100,000 ethnic Armenians who live there

00:27 remains unclear.

00:29 For the latest on this story, let's cross to RFI correspondent Rizhi Sijanti, who is

00:36 in the Armenian capital of Yerevan.

00:39 Thank you so much for being with us.

00:41 Can you tell us a little bit more about the reaction in Armenia to these talks underway?

00:49 It's a bit early.

00:50 There are no much reaction at the moment.

00:53 From the government side, they try to explain that this is normal.

00:56 We are going through this along this last two, three years, basically, after the defeat

01:01 during the 2020.

01:03 And that finally the last, and this is the prime minister, Nikol Pashinyan, who said

01:07 that the last obstacle to sign a peace treaty was today removed with these talks.

01:16 The fact that directly the authorities of the breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh and

01:22 Azerbaijan are directly talking to each other, removed this obstacle.

01:27 So this is what the prime minister say.

01:30 On the street, it's a bit early.

01:32 I see that now some rallies start to organize themselves in the city.

01:39 So I would not exclude that tonight there will be some demonstrations, because indeed

01:44 no one is ready to accept the addition or the return of Nagorno-Karabakh within Azerbaijan,

01:53 even though no one is able to propose any solution.

01:56 All right.

01:57 I mean, it does seem like there may not be a choice for Armenia.

02:01 It appears that Azerbaijan really has the upper hand in these negotiations.

02:09 What can really be done by Armenia or the regional leaders there?

02:14 Do they basically just have to accept whatever is handed to them?

02:19 The lesson, if I may speak so, was given three years ago with the 44 days war, what we call

02:25 the second war of Karabakh, and which was lost by the Armenian side.

02:30 And even it could have been worse at the moment, but with the negotiation of the Russian president,

02:36 Vladimir Putin, there is a budget.

02:40 Can you hear me?

02:41 Yes, I can hear you.

02:42 Please continue.

02:43 Sorry.

02:44 I was explaining that with this war, Azerbaijan was ready to take military all Nagorno-Karabakh.

02:54 But with the negotiation of the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, it was decided that they would

02:59 not take immediately military the Nagorno-Karabakh.

03:03 And this is what's happened now.

03:05 But obviously the difference between the military strengths of the two countries is so high

03:11 that the choice is extremely limited.

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