No direct threat to Armenians in Nagorno-Karabkah, says Pashinyan
- 25 September, 17:35
Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has said that Armenian population would not be under direct threat from Azerbaijan should they choose to stay in the region.
"Presently, our assessment is that there is no direct threat to the civilian population of Nagorno-Karabakh," Pashinyan said in a televised address on September 21. The Armenian Prime Minister, however, stressed that Yerevan was ready to accommodate those fleeing from Nagorno-Karabakh.
Pashinyan made the statement amid the mass exodus of Armenians from Nagorno-Karabakh region that surrendered to Azerbaijan in a lightning “anti-terrorist” operation launched by Baku on September 19. The Armenian Armed formations laid down their weapons after less then 23 hours of fighting with Azerbaijani forces, while the region’s separatist leaders agreed to start negotiations with Baku over the region’s reintegration to Azerbaijan.
Pashinyan’s optimistic remarks about the future of Karabakhi Armenians is in strike contrast to the statement made by Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan on the same day. Addressing a UN Security Council, Mirzoyan said “Azerbaijan’s intention is to complete the ethnic cleansing of Nagorno-Karabakh’s Armenian population.”
Earlier, David Babayan, an official in the region's ethnic Armenian government, said he expected almost all of Nagorno-Karabakh’s Armenian population to leave the region. It should be noted that according to Armenian official sources, Nagorno-Karabakh’s Armenian population is around 120,000.
