Nagorno-Karabakh: Armenia announces military operations as only solution to conflict
ISTANBUL, Turkey (North Press) – Armenia announced that a military solution is the only option for resolving the conflict with Azerbaijani forces in Nagorno-Karabakh (Artsakh) to which Turkey responded that it will not hesitate to send its forces to the region.
“The Armenian people can only reach an acceptable solution to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict with weapons,” Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said on Wednesday in a statement.
“We have to realize that the Nagorno-Karabakh issue cannot be resolved diplomatically, in the current phase at least.”
“Azerbaijan rejects the Armenian proposals and does not accept any solutions except the surrender of Nagorno-Karabakh,” Pashinyan added.
Pashinyan pointed out that Armenia’s position is stable and is not subjected to concessions in the early nineties, adding, “No Armenia without Artsakh.”
Pashinyan noted the Azerbaijani losses since the start of the ongoing conflict with Armenia on September 27.
He stated that Azerbaijan lost about 10,000 soldiers and military equipment estimated at 1.5 billion dollars according to his estimates, noting that Azerbaijan is currently sending its last reserves to the fight.
Commenting on the issue, Omar Huseyinoglu, a politician living in Istanbul, told North Press that “Armenia is sending a clear message to Azerbaijan and Turkey.”
“This indicates that it is speaking from a position of strength that stems from the Russian position in support of Armenia, as it heavily relies on Russia.”
“Dialogue is no longer working, and two agreements for a truce and a ceasefire were preceded by them, but they failed,” he added.
Turkey rushed to respond to the statements of Pashinyan on Wednesday.
In press statements to a local TV channel, Turkish Vice President Fuat Oktay said, “We will not hesitate to send soldiers and provide military support to Azerbaijan if the latter requests.”
Oktay accused the presidents of the Minsk Group of the Organization for Security and Cooperation of silence regarding Azerbaijan and seeking to keep the Nagorno-Karabakh issue unresolved.
The Minsk Group was created in 1992 by France, Russia, and the United States in order to reach a peaceful resolution to the conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan in Nagorno-Karabakh.
Reports regarding Turkey’s sending Syrian mercenaries to support Azerbaijan continue, following the Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s announcement that his country will stand by Azerbaijan in its war against Armenia.
Observers believe that Turkey fears a military option against Azerbaijan, as it knows the size of the military support that will be provided to Armenia.
“Turkey has no interest in opening a door to conflict with Russia through Azerbaijan,” Abdulhamid Surkan, a Turkish affairs expert who lives in Antakya, told North Press.
He said that Russia may exert some pressure on Turkey in Idlib, and there may be bombing operations targeting populated areas to force people to flee towards the Turkish border.
Surkan indicated that this would be a clear message to Turkey to force Azerbaijan to make concessions.
Turkey fears that Russia will have a real foothold in the Nagorno-Karabakh region by finally being able to deploy Russian military forces there.
Turkey is a major supporter of Azerbaijan in its conflict with the unilaterally proclaimed forces of the Nagorno-Karabakh (Artsakh) Republic and its ally Armenia.
The Armenian-majority Nagorno-Karabakh region seceded from the Shiite-majority and Turkish-speaking Azerbaijan before the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, sparking a war which killed 30,000 people in the 1990s. The current fighting in Karabakh is the most intense since the 1990s.