BAKU - Azerbaijan calls on Armenians living in Nagorno-Karabakh to not leave homes and become a part of Azerbaijani society, reported Sputnik, quoting the Foreign Ministry on Thursday.
Earlier in the day, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said that exodus of Armenians of Karabakh is happening because of Baku’s "ethnic cleansing" policy. According to Yerevan, more than half of Nagorno-Karabakh’s population has already left the unrecognised republic.
"Prime Minister Pashinyan is well aware that the departure of Armenians living in the Karabakh region of Azerbaijan is their personal decision and has nothing to do with forced displacement. If any part of the Armenian population does not want to live and obey Azerbaijani legislation and authorities, we cannot force them to do so. On the contrary, we urge Armenian residents not to leave their places of residence and to be part of the multi-ethnic Azerbaijani society," the ministry said in a statement. - BERNAMA-SPUTNIK