Turkey Again Accuses Armenia

Turkey's Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu spoke about Armenia and Armenian-Turkish relations during a meeting with representatives of several NGOs. This was reported by Ermenihaber.

“Today, Turkey possesses both hard and soft military power, which must be properly coordinated to understand when to utilize hard power or how to apply soft power. Hard power should be employed when diplomacy has run its course. Hard power is used to reactivate diplomacy,” he stated.

Çavuşoğlu cited the actions of their military in Syria, Libya, and the Eastern Mediterranean as examples. He continued, “Azerbaijan did the same in the Caucasus. It waited 30 years, and diplomacy did not work. The Minsk Trio, or even the larger entity, the Minsk Group, of which we are a part, did not operate. What happened? In a short time, in 43 days, brotherly Azerbaijan took back its lands, and now an opportunity has arisen for diplomacy.”

He mentioned that they are sending positive messages and receiving similar ones from Armenia, but according to him, these should not remain as mere words. Çavuşoğlu accused Armenia of having “eyes” on the territories of neighboring countries and urged Yerevan to consider how it can benefit from peace, economic development, and important projects.