YEREVAN — Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan called today for international response to Azerbaijan’s attempts to escalate the tension, saying also reliable international negotiation mechanism is needed for achieving the Armenia-Azerbaijan peace treaty and for implementation of agreements reached between Stepanakert and Baku on ensuring the security and the rights of the people of Nagorno-Karabakh.
Speaking at a government session Pashinyan drew international community’s attention to Azerbaijan’s preparations for a new escalation. He stressed that Azerbaijan’s rhetoric of so-called “Western Azerbaijan” is a blatant act of encroachment on the sovereign territory of Armenia.
“Unpunished violations of internationally reached agreements by Azerbaijan encourage Baku to make new incitements. Such a monstrous provocation took place yesterday when the Azerbaijani side purposefully shot and killed Arshak Sarkisyan, a serviceman of the Armenian Armed Forces with a sniper shot,” he said.
At the same time, Pashinyan stressed that the peace treaty will be concluded on the basis of the documents adopted so far at the highest level.
“As for our actions, the Armenian government and society must engage in daily creative work, building, modernizing and strengthening the security system. We must not divert for a moment from the path of development, strengthening Armenia and our democracy,” he said.
Pashinyan said also that Azerbaijani leader Ilham Aliyev’s latest infamous speech constitutes an act of aggression against Armenia and a gross violation of agreements.