By Felix Light
YEREVAN (Reuters) – Armenian Deputy Foreign Minister Paruyr Hovhannissyan said on Wednesday that the ethnic Armenians of Azerbaijan’s Nagorno-Karabakh region could “in an ideal world” live under Azerbaijani rule, but that historical experience made it hard to imagine.
In an interview with Reuters after a 24-hour Azerbaijani offensive overwhelmed the separatists and secured their agreement to disarm, he said Armenia understood that Karabakh’s Armenians were open to talks with Baku, and that dialogue was crucial.
Armenia has complained loudly in recent months that its main ally and protector, Russia, has not done enough to protect the Karabakh Armenians against growing pressure from Baku.
Hovhannissyan said Armenia had specific security agreements with Russia that were applicable to such situations.
Conflict in the region between Christian Armenians and Turkic Muslim Azeris goes back more than a century.
About 30,000 people were killed and more than a million displaced in a war in the 1990s and at least 6,500 died in a 44-day war in 2020.
(Reporting by Felix Light; Writing by Kevin Liffey; Editing by Jon Boyle)
