Military Exercises in Kars Interpreted Differently by Turkey and Azerbaijan: Karen Hovhannisyan

Expert on Turkish-Kurdish issues Karen Hovhannisyan writes: “The military exercises ongoing in Kars are being interpreted in contradictory ways by the state propaganda machinery of Turkey and Azerbaijan. Azerbaijan is attempting to present these exercises against the backdrop of further joint military operations between Turkey and Azerbaijan. In other words, they imply that they could conduct military operations against Armenia's western borders together this time. From the Azerbaijani propaganda machine, it gives the impression that an attack on Armenia by Turkey will occur soon, with the Azerbaijani army assisting the Turkish army.

However, Turkish state propaganda is directing the fact of the exercises in an entirely different way. They mainly assert that these are ordinary, annual exercises that are not directed against any country. At the same time, today the Turkish authorities announced that they are turning the Agrı, Iğdır, and Kars regions into a tourist center, and Mount Ararat is also being made a mountaineering center. This would not have been noteworthy for me if I had not heard the next remark from the reporting minister.

He states that the risk of terrorist presence has already disappeared around Ararat and in the aforementioned regions, making it possible to turn Ararat, which is considered the roof of Turkey, into a mountaineering center. Simultaneously, the reporting minister emphasizes that with this step, they are once again showing the residents that peace in that region will last for a long time. When the question arose whether the ongoing exercises might be a reason for the mountaineering center, he replied that in the future, the location of the exercises could be moved to another area. Let's wait for Azerbaijan's reaction regarding this issue.”