YEREVAN, May 19. /TASS/. Armenia’s President Armen Sarkisyan has urged the Defense Ministry, the General Staff and the National Security Service to take measures against any encroachments threatening the country’s territorial integrity, including border violations.
"I am calling upon the Defense Ministry of Armenia, the General Staff of the Armed Forces, and the National Security Service to exert the maximum efforts within the framework of their functions to take the strictest measures against encroachments threatening the territorial integrity of Armenia and violations of its borders. In the current situation special importance must be attached to the the unconditional responsibility of the state and its bodies for leading the country out of the crisis, in particular, for taking care of security issues," the presidential press-service quotes Sarkisyan as saying.
He stressed that in the current situation Armenia’s reaction must be clear and acceptable to international partners. The public must be "timely and truthfully informed about all ongoing processes and stay certain that it is protected and that the state, regardless of political or other factors, carries out its functions."
Of no less importance, Sarkisyan said, is the use of the diplomatic arsenal and deeper cooperation with international partners and relations of alliance, which must rely "on a realistic and targeted agenda." Also, Sarkisyan stressed that "the whole set of tools of traditional and public diplomacy" must be employed and the Armenian diaspora invited to play a role. The president urged the nation to unite.
On May 12, Armenia's Defense Ministry said that Azerbaijani forces had tried to carry out "certain works" in a border district of Syunik for "correcting the border." As a result of measures taken by the Armenian forces, the Azerbaijani military stopped these works. In the evening of the same day Armenia's acting prime-minister, Nikol Pashinyan, convened a meeting of the Security Council to describe the incident as an encroachment on Armenia's territory. He said that Azerbaijani forces had crossed the state border to move 3.5 kilometers inside the country's territory. The two sides have since held several rounds of talks on a settlement. The last one, on May 16, was brokered by Russia.
After the cessation of hostilities over Nagorno-Karabakh in the autumn of last year, when Baku took over seven districts neighboring on Nagorno-Karabakh, the Armenian border was drawn near the Syunik and Gegharkunik regions.