Çavuşoğlu Responds to Pashinyan: Details

The Armenian member of parliament, Karo Paylan, posed a question to Turkey's Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu regarding a statement made by Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan. According to the Turkish service of the "Sputnik" news agency, the Armenian MP inquired whether the Turkish side had responded to Pashinyan's statement about Armenia's willingness to normalize Armenian-Turkish relations without preconditions.

In his written response, Çavuşoğlu noted that Turkey's goal in achieving a comprehensive and inclusive resolution in the South Caucasus remains unchanged, and that its desire to normalize relations with Armenia has not altered. According to the source, Çavuşoğlu pointed out that the normalization of bilateral relations has failed after Armenia pulled back the Zurich protocols from parliament and subsequently declared them void. He stated that Turkey is not the party that has exited the process.

Çavuşoğlu mentioned that any potential resolution process can be stable and continuous only if clear steps towards comprehensive peace in the South Caucasus are taken. In this context, he recalled that Turkey closed its border with Armenia in 1993 "due to the occupation of Azerbaijani territories," and for the following 26 years, Armenia's aggressive stance has persisted, which has not created the necessary conditions for Turkey to change its decision. In this regard, he specifically stated: "Therefore, it is essential to take clear steps towards resolving the Nagorno-Karabakh issue to establish a basis for normalizing Turkey-Armenia relations."

Continuing on the topic of Artsakh, Çavuşoğlu said, "When Prime Minister Pashinyan came to power in May 2018, although he made promising statements for a peaceful resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh issue, he yielded to hardliners in Armenia and the diaspora, gradually tightening his tone. During his speech on August 5 in the occupied Khankendi (Stepanakert), he stated that 'Nagorno-Karabakh is Armenia,' which is a clear indication that Armenia has begun to move away from a peaceful resolution."

He also noted that while Prime Minister Pashinyan occasionally claims he is ready to negotiate without preconditions to normalize relations with Turkey, he simultaneously stated during a speech at the 74th session of the UN General Assembly that Turkey is a serious threat to Armenia.

Çavuşoğlu again accused Armenia of targeting Turkey with "unfounded claims," while also reminding that Turkey's proposal to establish a commission of historians was not accepted. "Despite all this, if the Armenian side starts to take clear and sincere steps to meet the expectations of the international community and within the framework of international law to resolve the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, then it will receive a positive response from Turkey," Çavuşoğlu concluded in his written response to Paylan's question.