Answer: Given the importance of Mr. Davis's office, it is important that we highlight some of the misunderstandings in his assumptions.

We regret that despite the fact that Mr. Davis is well-informed, the political judgments he has made are not reflective of the essence of the conflict nor the letter and spirit of the talks that are currently being conducted between the parties. Territories are not at the heart of the Nagorno Karabakh problem. Territories came under Armenian control because Azerbaijan responded violently and brutally to the calls of the Armenians of Nagorno Karabakh for self-determination. Armenians had no choice but to defend themselves, militarily. They did so, fortunately successfully, and those territories today remain our cordon of security. After all, Azerbaijan still seems to think that a military option is possible. We have reason to take them seriously.

Further, given the immense, and possibly irreversible, loss of trust that Azerbaijan created when it decided, at the state level, to undertake the massacres of Armenians living far from the Nagorno Karabakh conflict site - in Baku, Sumgait and other Azerbaijani cities, given that Azerbaijan made war against people it considered its own citizens, the international community must see that Azerbaijan demonstrated its complete repudiation of international principles of human rights. It was exactly to address this issue of confidence that PACE recommended that the Secretary General propose programs that will serve to build confidence among the parties.

Finally, regarding the recent, brutal, arbitrary destruction of 2,000 tombstones by the Azerbaijani government, let me say that Nakhichevan is not a war zone. Ancient sculpted stone crosses were not a threat to anyone or anything. Azerbaijan erased these medieval monuments from the face of the earth because they did not want to leave any trace of Armenian presence on their lands. They have quit fighting Armenians, now they're shadowboxing with Armenian ghosts. In this context, to make a parallel with destruction in and around Nagorno Karabakh, during a war, is tantamount to accepting that 'might makes right', that governments can in fact destroy peoples and cultures with impunity.

We will continue our search for peace, and hope that the international community will demonstrate the necessary understanding.