Baku launched ground operation to ethnically cleanse the Armenians of  Nagorno-Karabakh - Pashinyan

ArmInfo.Information that Azerbaijan had officially notified the Russian Federationthe start of  military operations in Nagorno-Karabakh was strange for Yerevan. 

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan stated today during a  Facebook live broadcast, adding that "this is Azerbaijan's version,"  but he wants to pay attention to it. "The fact is that Yerevan did  not receive any information from its Russian partners," the prime  minister said.

Earlier, today Baku began full-scale military operations against the  Republic of Artsakh. The capital Stepanakert and other cities and  villages are under intense shelling. The Azerbaijani Ministry of  Defense announced the start of "local anti-terrorism measures." "The  command of the peacekeeping contingent of the Russian Federation and  the leadership of the Turkish-Russian Monitoring Center were informed  about the ongoing activities," the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry said  in a statement.

Pashinyan noted that on September 19, at around 1:00 p.m., Azerbaijan  began shelling the entire territory of Nagorno-Karabakh. After some  time, the Azerbaijani Armed Forces started operations to break the  Nagorno-Karabakh contact line and take control of a number of  positions and settlements.

"We, of course, are in contact with Nagorno-Karabakh, but there are  certain problems with communication.  But, in general, the  information is as follows: at the beginning, active artillery strikes  were carried out by a variety of rocket weapons on the territory of  Nagorno-Karabakh, and then they began ground operations in different  directions," Pashinyan said. Baku provides "information support" in  the process," he indicated.  According to him, the outbreak of  hostilities was not unexpected. Earlier, at government meetings, the  head of the cabinet repeatedly spoke about the increase in tension.  This was also mentioned in today's statement by the RA Ministry of  Foreign Affairs that "the theses voiced by the Azerbaijani side  during a meeting with representatives of the diplomatic corps at the  Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry on September 18 are similar to  diplomatic preparations for a new military escalation in the region,  the beginning of specific actions aimed at carrying out ethnic  cleansing in Nagorno-Karabakh".

The Prime Minister emphasized that he immediately convened an  expanded meeting of the Security Council, with the participation of  the President, the Speaker of Parliament and other responsible  persons. It was recorded that in this way Baku launched a ground  operation to ethnically cleanse the Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh. In  his opinion, firstly, RPC must take immediate measures. Measures are  also expected from the UN Security Council, he noted.

"There are already comments where attempts are made to connect what  is happening with one or another decision of the Republic of Armenia.  But I want to repeat what I have stated more than once: the Republic  of Armenia did not give anyone a mandate to carry out ethnic  cleansing in Nagorno-Karabakh. Our task remains to ensure the rights  and security of the Armenians of Karabakh; this has always been and  remains on our agenda," the prime minister said.

Pashinyan considers Baku's statement that the civilian population  will be provided with a humanitarian corridor to leave, strange.

This directly indicates the beginning of concrete actions of ethnic  cleansing, the head of the RA Cabinet emphasized.

"If they claim that they are carrying out a so-called "anti-terrorist  operation" and there are no attacks on civilian targets, then why do  they also claim a humanitarian corridor for the population to leave  Nagorno- Karabakh? If what they say had anything to do with reality,  they would have urged citizens to stay in shelters and not go to  places where there is shelling. The logic that Azerbaijan is  developing clearly points to the beginning of concrete actions for  ethnic cleansing," the prime minister said.