YEREVAN (Reuters) - Armenia will recognise the breakaway Nagorno-Karabakh region as independent from Azerbaijan if military actions there continue and take on large scale, Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan said on Monday.

Azerbaijan has resorted to an “unprecedented provocation along the entire perimeter of the contact line” with Nagorno-Karabakh, Sargsyan told a meeting with ambassadors from member states of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe nations, referring to the latest flare-up of the conflict.

Armenia’s Foreign Ministry has been ordered to start work on signing a mutual military assistance treaty with Nagorno-Karabakh, he said.