ARMENIAN Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan accused Turkey of wanting to continue the Armenian genocide in an online press conference on Tuesday evening.

He said the country wanted to establish relations with Ankara, but could not discuss the issue of a so-called corridor which would give Azerbaijan unimpeded access to Turkey via Armenian territory.

Tensions are running high, with six Armenian soldiers killed by Azeri forces earlier this month, in breach of a fragile ceasefire that has been in place since last year’s conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh.

Azerbaijan was backed by Turkey, which sent troops and jihadist mercenaries to support Baku’s military offensive, seizing territory in the contested Armenian-majority region.

Mr Pashinyan said he wants to know if Turkey and Azerbaijan “want to destroy Armenia.”

 “I want…[them] to answer very clearly — not in words, but in deeds — whether they want to annihilate the Armenian people, whether they want to destroy Armenian statehood, whether they want to continue the policy of genocide,” he said.

“If yes, what choice do we have but resistance? If not, then they are right — there is a historic opportunity to establish peace and stability in the region.”

At least 1.5 million Armenian men, women and children were systematically exterminated by Turkish Ottoman forces in a genocide that started in April 1915, which Turkey denies.