Armenia is ready to help evacuate ethnic Armenian residents of northern Syria affected by Turkey’s military operations conducted there, a senior official in Yerevan said on Friday.

The Armenian government on Thursday condemned the Turkish incursion into the area largely controlled by Kurdish militias and discussed its repercussions for thousands of Syrian Armenians believed to live there.

Armen Grigorian, the secretary of Armenia’s Security Council, briefed lawmakers on potential government actions at a meeting held in the National Assembly behind the closed doors. Grigorian said afterwards that Yerevan stands ready to take in ethnic Armenian refugees from the area attacked by Turkish troops.

“We have not yet made an official proposal,” Grigorian told reporters. “As you know, not only is the issue at the center of the government’s attention but also our embassy and consulate [in Syria] are in touch with leaders of the [Armenian] community. If there is such a desire [to relocate to Armenia] we will definitely take all measures and provide all necessary means.”

But he added that none of the local Syrian Armenians has so far expressed a desire to take refuge in Armenia.

The precise number of Armenians remaining in Syria’s Kurdish-controlled regions is not known. A senior Armenian Foreign Ministry official said on Thursday that around 3,000 of them live in the northeastern town of Qamishli close to the Turkish border.

“The only town [in northern Syria] where there are Armenians now is Qamishli, and our focus is on it,” said Grigorian. “We are communicating with Armenians of Qamishli and their spiritual leaders. We are trying to understand what their needs are.”

According to government estimates, more than 22,000 Syrian Armenians have fled to Armenia since the outbreak of the bloody conflict in Syria 2011. Some of them have migrated to Europe and North America for mainly economic reasons.

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