As Long as Turkey's Stance Remains Unchanged, Azerbaijan Will Not Cease Military Operations: Nikol Pashinyan

Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has given an interview to the Reuters agency. This was reported by the Prime Minister's Office, which attached the article below.

“Armenia's Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said on Tuesday that only a change in Turkey's stance on the Nagorno-Karabakh issue could prompt Azerbaijan to halt military operations. However, in his first interview following the ceasefire agreement reached in Moscow regarding the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict on Saturday, he did not mention any signal indicating that Ankara's position had undergone a change.

Speaking from the Government building in the center of Yerevan, a legacy of the Soviet era, Pashinyan accused Turkey of undermining the ceasefire regime and attempting to penetrate the South Caucasus in line with its expansionist ambitions. “I am convinced that as long as Turkey's stance remains unchanged, Azerbaijan will not cease military operations,” Pashinyan stated.

The Armenian Prime Minister also mentioned that before the ceasefire agreement was adopted, Turkey had already declared that Azerbaijan should not halt military operations. After the agreement was accepted, a call was made from the Turkish Foreign Minister to Azerbaijan, which was essentially an order to not dare halt military operations.

“Turkey has come to the South Caucasus to continue its policy that it pursues in the Mediterranean region, towards Greece, Cyprus, Libya, Syria, and Iraq. This is an expansionist policy. Turkey's expansionist plans towards the north, east, and southeast are known, and the issue is that in the South Caucasus, Armenians are the last obstacle in the path of this expansionist policy. And now Turkey is not at all resolving the issue of Nagorno-Karabakh. Turkey is trying to continue its policy of genocide against Armenians, as Armenia and Armenians in the South Caucasus are the last obstacle in its expansion towards the north, east, and southeast,” Pashinyan said.

The Prime Minister reiterated that Turkey continues the policies of the early 20th century Ottoman Empire, which he characterized as a continuation of the Armenian Genocide. “The entire South Caucasus will become like Syria, and that fire will spread to the north and south very quickly, practically within months, and in the long term to the east,” Nikol Pashinyan said.