Turkey Seeks to Sell More Arms to Azerbaijan: Garo Paylan Questions Turkish Foreign Minister

The Armenian member of the Turkish Parliament, Garo Paylan, has addressed questions to Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu regarding Turkey's blatant support for Azerbaijan. According to Armenpress, Paylan noted that as a member of the OSCE Minsk Group, Turkey should have exhibited neutrality in the recent actions initiated by Azerbaijan along the Armenian-Azerbaijani border.

Paylan's inquiries directed at Çavuşoğlu are presented in full as follows: “Numerous soldiers and civilians have lost their lives as a result of the recent conflicts between Armenia and Azerbaijan. While both sides accused each other of initiating the conflict, you stated as Foreign Minister that 'what Armenia did is unacceptable. Azerbaijan is not alone. We, as the Republic of Turkey and the Turkish people, stand by Azerbaijan with all our capabilities.' Such statements were also made by the AKP party and President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, as well as Defense Minister Hulusi Akar.

As a member of the OSCE Minsk Group, which aims to resolve the conflicts that have arisen between Azerbaijan and Armenia, Turkey should have worked towards a solution, yet even during this period of tension, it made statements that exacerbated the situation due to ethnic biases. Therefore, is it due to ethnic reasons that you are displaying partiality in the conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan? Have you not yet understood that ethnocentric foreign policy means 'adding fuel to the fire' and only complicates matters further? Turkey's defense industry wants to sell more arms to Azerbaijan. Is this the reason you are intensifying tensions? Are you considering sending troops to Azerbaijan? If Turkey is not ethnic, why does it conduct foreign policy with ethnic aspirations? Do you sometimes remember that you are a member of the OSCE Minsk Group, which was established to mitigate tensions between Armenia and Azerbaijan? Do you not yet understand that destabilizing the Caucasus is only advantageous for Russia? How do you comment on the threat from the Azerbaijani Ministry of Defense that they are prepared to strike the nuclear power plant located on the Turkey-Armenia border?” Paylan wrote.