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Yerevan proposes creating demilitarized zone around Karabakh — Armenian PM

Nikol Pashinyan added that "the requirement by Nagorno-Karabakh’s Armenians to halt violations by Azerbaijani troops on the line of engagement and withdraw troops from the peacekeepers’ zone of responsibility as well as to reject the policy of genocide of the Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh is also fair"

YEREVAN, November 10. /TASS/. Armenia proposed to create a demilitarized zone around Nagorno-Karabakh and on the border with Azerbaijan, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said at a government meeting on Thursday.

"Armenia does not have an army in Nagorno-Karabakh while Azerbaijan rejected the proposal I made in Prague on October 6 to send a mission of observers to Nagorno-Karabakh to clarify this issue. There is a defensive army in Nagorno-Karabakh which is a serious obstacle to carrying out any policy of genocide. In my opinion, the Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh have the army only because of the danger of genocide. During the Sochi trilateral meeting, I presented a suggestion by Nagorno-Karabakh’s authorities to create a demilitarized zone around Nagorno-Karabakh with international guarantees which would mean that then Nagorno-Karabakh would not need an army of such scale. We have proposed and are proposing demilitarizing the Armenian-Azerbaijani border zone suggesting a withdrawal of troops from the border restored in 1991 creating a three-kilometer demilitarized zone. This proposal remains effective and yesterday we submitted its updated version to Azerbaijan," he noted.

The Armenian prime minister added that "the requirement by Nagorno-Karabakh’s Armenians to halt violations by Azerbaijani troops on the line of engagement and withdraw troops from the peacekeepers’ zone of responsibility as well as to reject the policy of genocide of the Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh is also fair."