"Why Armenia's soldier serving on Azerbaijan's territory?" - Elmar Mammadyarov's improvised interview to Armenian media on plane

Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov was interviewed by the Armenian journalists on board the flight from Brussels to Moscow. The Azerbaijani Foreign Minister arrived in Russia today to participate in the session of the Council of Foreign Ministers of CIS countries.

The journalist, having seen Mammadyarov, speaks with him in Russian, but then asks for an interview in English. The minister proposes to continue the conversation in Russian:  “I will speak in Russian. Let's talk in Russian.” However, the Armenian citizen asks a question in English, asking to comment on the 2016 April fighting for Karabakh.

“Everyone thinks that the results are different. I think that if you look inside of the story, there are different stories as usual in every war. Everyone is building up its own story, who is guilty who is right and so on. But in general I think that April 2016 shows us that unfortunately this is not what we should do there. And that’s what we always say that the army must be returned back to barracks. This is the only way how we can proceed for the peaceful resolution," Elmar Mammadyarov told her.

"Whenever we are talking about peaceful resolution, we understand that the biggest trouble for the peaceful resolution is military. And in this case, of course, the withdrawal of Armenian troops from the territory of Azerbaijan for sure can build up absolutely different environment and will open new opportunities to both nations," the Azerbaijani Foreign Minister stressed.

The second journalist offers to use Russian again, and the minister asks where his interlocutors are from - “What part of Armenia are you from? Ijevan?” Having learned that both are from Yerevan, he explains that "All people I meet are from Ijevan" [Ijevan is Nikol Pashinyan's native village - VK].

Posing as a former employee of ArmenPress, the second journalist asked the minister to comment on bolstering the Azerbaijani defense.

“The answer is very simple. The territory of my country is occupied by Armenian soldiers. Why is Armenia's soldier serving on Azerbaijan's territory?” Elmar Mammadyarov said.

The journalist tried to argue that the occupied Azerbaijani lands are “Armenia's territory” and stated that “we all know this [about Karabakh - VK]”.

The minister recalled that the name 'Karabakh' is Azerbaijani and, at the request of a Armenian citizen, said that it means 'Black Garden'.

Further, the journalist began to ask a question about the Yerevan Khanate, but got nervous. “Take it easy. You are very emotional now. It's not the best thing to do for a journalist,” Mamedyarov said, after which the conversation was interrupted by a flight attendant, as the plane was ready for take-off and the passengers were obliged to return to their seats.