Hokhikyan on the Aragatsavan Incident

Inter-ethnic conflict expert Nairi Hokhikyan addressed the news circulating on the internet that Turks had taken eight shepherds captive along with their livestock in the Aragatsavan village of Aragatsotn province. He pointed out the following:

“In the area we are talking about—Aragatsavan, Bagaran, Yervandashat—there are not so many Kurds or Turkish people living there, but rather Azerbaijanis. These are mainly Azerbaijanis who have fled Nakhichevan and Artsakh and have settled in Turkey, while Turkish authorities have deliberately brought these people and deployed them in that 311 km area bordering Armenia. According to my information, more than 35,000 Azerbaijanis are now living along the Armenia-Turkey border, especially in the Igdir-Kars region. I do not rule out the possibility that these provocations may have been incited by the Azerbaijanis living there. Azerbaijanis have been specifically settled along the Turkey-Armenia border so that they can carry out provocations,” Hokhikyan stated during the press conference.