YEREVAN (TASS) — Yerevan is paying its historical debt by sending a humanitarian mission to Syria, Armenia Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said, addressing the country’s parliament on Thursday.

On February 8, a group of officers from the Armenian Defence Ministry arrived in Syria to carry out a humanitarian mission. The group includes deminers, security experts and medical workers. Russia assisted the mission’s members in getting to Syria.

According to Pashinyan, sending a humanitarian mission to Syria involves risks but he was confident that such a move “is justified in terms of morals and historical debts.” Indedd, tens of thousands of Armenians found shelter in Syria during the Armenian Genocide that took place in the Ottoman Empire in 1915. A large Armenian community still exists in Syria.

“If one of our doctors succeeds in saving the life of at least one Syrian whose ancestors helped Armenians during the genocide, gave them food and water, then I believe we will be paying our historical debt to this nation”, Pashinyan said.