Lapschin: Erdoğan's Statement Is the First Acknowledgment of Turkey's Occupation of Artsakh

Blogger Alexander Lapschin made a post on his Facebook page concerning the statement made by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.

“This evening, President Erdoğan announced that Turkey will occupy Israel just as it has occupied Artsakh and Libya. According to him, this will be a serious test for Turkey, but they will overcome it. This is a quote. What is interesting in Erdoğan's latest absurd statement is not that he treats even his own people as complete fools, but something entirely different: for the first time, he openly confessed that Turkey has occupied Artsakh. And Libya as well. But the most intriguing part is about Artsakh, since Turkey has always denied its involvement in the 2020 44-day war, while Azerbaijan claimed it fought independently. As the saying goes, what is in a wise man's head is on Erdoğan's tongue.

We already knew that thousands of Turkish soldiers fought against the small Armenian army in Artsakh. But for the first time, Turkey openly admitted this, and I doubt that Erdoğan mentioned it without thinking.”

“Regarding Turkey's promises to occupy Israel, I simply regret wasting your time discussing Erdoğan's latest absurdity. He has threatened to return to the holy 'Turkish' Jerusalem, promised to return Greece to the Ottoman Empire, threatened to take over all of Cyprus, and raise the Turkish flag over Saudi Mecca, and so on. I believe that apart from Erdoğan and Aliyev, no one in the region makes such irresponsible and failed statements.”

“He will attack Israel and occupy it, boldly announcing this to the whole world! Great? The only thing Erdoğan has achieved is to give Israel another blank card to finish things in Gaza and Lebanon. As well as reinforced Israel's position in the world (severely shaken due to 40,000 deaths in Gaza).”

“When it comes to the actual realization of threats, it is clear that Aliyev's threats against Armenia are one thing, and behind those threats lies something besides empty words. They might try to do something. But imagine if Aliyev threatened to occupy Great Britain or, let’s say, France. The comparison is not abstract at all; it fully reflects the reality of having roughly equal chances of occupying London or Marseille as it is to take Tel Aviv.”

“Today, the balance of power between Israel and Turkey is as follows:

• Soldiers, including reserves: Israel 435,000, Turkey 450,000
• Combat aircraft: Israel 612 (mostly new), Turkey 880 (mostly outdated)
• Tanks: Israel 2850, Turkey 2600
• Artillery: Israel 800, Turkey 1020
• Nuclear weapons: Israel 200-300 warheads, Turkey zero

The map suggests that there is no common border between the countries. To reach Israel by land, Syria and Lebanon would have to be completely occupied.

So far, Turkey is bogged down in war against the Kurds and the Syrian army in regions along the Turkey-Syria border. I promised not to waste your time commenting on Erdoğan's nonsense, but this is how it turned out. I apologize,” Lapschin wrote.