“According to my information, there is no military buildup around Armenia’s borders at the moment,” deputy parliament speaker Hakob Arshakian told reporters.
“Is there a threat [of Azerbaijani attack] or not?” he went on. “There have been positive developments lately in terms of a change in [Azerbaijani] rhetoric and statements by international authoritative bodies, parliaments, governments and other entities to the effect that Armenia’s territorial integrity cannot be called into question.”
“I’m not saying that that everything is wonderful and there is no danger,” Arshakian said, pointing to a joint Turkish-Azerbaijani military exercise held in Azerbaijan late last month.
The Armenian government said in early September that Azerbaijani troops are massing along the border and the “line of contact” in Nagorno-Karabakh in possible preparation for a large-scale attack. About two weeks later, they launched an offensive in Karabakh that caused a mass exodus of its population and paved the way for the restoration of Baku’s control over the region.
The Azerbaijani takeover of Karabakh raised more fears in Yerevan that Baku will also invade Armenia to open an exterritorial land corridor to Nakhichevan. A senior Armenian diplomat said on October 8 that the attack could be launched in the coming weeks.
The U.S.-based Lemkin Institute for Genocide Prevention likewise warned on Wednesday of the “alarming potential for an invasion of Armenia by Azerbaijan in the coming days and weeks.”
“Azerbaijan has long coveted Armenia’s southern Syunik Province, which has been discussed in the recent past as the site of an Azerbaijani-controlled ‘Zangezur Corridor’ to Nakhichevan,” it said in a “red flag alert” posted on its website.
Commenting to that warning, the U.S. State Department reiterated that an attack on Armenia “would bring serious consequences.”
“The United States strongly supports Armenia’s sovereignty and territorial integrity,” it told the Voice of America.