Armenian PM accuses Turkey of leading Azeri offensive

PARIS: Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan yesterday accused Turkey of ‘‘once again advancing on a genocidal path’’ and said Ankara’s military was directly leading an offensive by Azeri forces against ethnic Armenian forces around NagornoKarabakh.

The region’s defence ministry reported 54 more military casualties yesterday, bringing the death toll to 158, Russia's Interfax news agency said.

The presidents of France, Russia and the

United States called on Thursday for an immediate ceasefire but Turkey, an Azeri ally, said the three big powers should have no role in peace moves.

‘‘The situation is much more serious [than previous clashes in 2016]. It would be more appropriate to compare it with what happened in 1915, when more than 1.5 million Armenians were slaughtered during the first genocide of the 20th century,’’ Pashinyan told Le Figaro.

The comments are likely to provoke Ankara. Turkey accepts that many Armenians living in the Ottoman Empire were killed in clashes with Ottoman forces during World War 1, but contests the figures and denies the killings were orchestrated and constitute a genocide.

Pashinyan, who offered no evidence for his assertions, said Turkey had sent thousands of Syrian mercenaries to the region and Turkish military officers were directly involved in leading the Azeri offensive.