Armenian PM convenes emergency session of Security Council to discuss Azerbaijani provocation in Syunik
According to Pashinyan, Azerbaijani troops crossed a nearby section of the Armenian-Azerbaijani border and advanced more than three kilometers towards the village of Verishen.
"This morning, Azerbaijani troops crossed the state border of the Republic of Armenia in this area, and advanced 3.5 kilometers towards the village of Verishen trying to surround the Black Lake. Of course, these actions are intolerable, because this is an encroachment on the sovereign territory of the republic," Pashinyan was quoted as saying by the government press office..
He said Armenian troops responded by tactical movements and other actions. “However, it should be noted that the actions of the Azerbaijani troops were not accompanied by the use of firearms or any other weapons,' he said.
'They tried to justify their actions with some maps, which at first glance seem fake, because we have a map approved by the central government during the Soviet Union, which clearly shows where the border between Armenia and Azerbaijan passes," said Pashinyan.
"But, given the situation, our priority is to resolve this problem through negotiations, as well as diplomacy. But this is one of the options. I want us to understand that we cannot tolerate and put up with the current situation. At the Security Council, we must discuss the situation and our further actions and possible scenarios," Pashinyan said.
He also noted that the situation is also becoming a pretext for domestic political speculations.
“I would like to reiterate that we should not try to use the situation with external security for domestic political purposes, since this is a matter of national security; in this situation, we need to focus on the problem and its solution. But on the other hand, it should be noted that the situation is at least close to critical, if not critical," Pashinyan said.
"We also need to make decisions today on what to do and what tools to use," Pashinyan said.
The Armenian Defense Ministry said early in the morning of May 12 that Azerbaijani forces “tried to carry out some work at one of the border sections of Syunik under the pretext of ‘border clarification.’”
“After measures taken by Armenian army units the Azerbaijani forces stopped those works,” it said in a statement issued early in the afternoon. “Right now negotiations are being held for resolving the situation.”
The ministry denied rumors about fighting between Azerbaijani and Armenian troops
According to Russian mass media reports, Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu spoke with his Armenian counterpart Vagharshak Harutyunyan by phone on May 12 afternoon 'to discuss the situation in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict zone and “other topics of mutual interest.”
Meanwhile, Armenian Foreign Minister Ara Ayvazyan had a phone call with Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov to brief him on “the latest incident on Armenia’s state border” and stressed “the inadmissibility of such provocations by the Azerbaijani side.”
After the leaders of Armenia, Russia and Azerbaijan signed a statement on the cessation of all hostilities in Artsakh on November 9, more than 190 settlements in Nagorno-Karabakh and adjacent seven districts were placed under the control of Azerbaijan.
As a result, the borders of the Syunik region in the south of Armenia (including the administrative center Kapan) appeared to be in close proximity to the new borders of Azerbaijan, drawn during the Soviet time. -0-
