Turkey seeks to expand its influence, regional countries should state their position – Armenia PM
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YEREVAN, OCTOBER 21, ARMENPRESS. In an interview to the Iranian IRNA news agency, Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan touched upon the question what factors hinder the establishment of ceasefire in Nagorno Karabakh, and why the hostilities still continue after the Moscow meeting and the agreement reached on Saturday night.
“It is obvious that Turkey is trying to undermine the ceasefire, as it has set far-reaching goals. Turkey is not only targeting Nagorno Karabakh, but it also seeks to impose its presence in the South Caucasus. Here, I should underscore that this is part of Turkey’s imperialistic policy, which seeks to expand its influence to the east, north, and southeast of Nagorno Karabakh, and this directly affects all regional countries. This fact needs serious consideration, and the regional stakeholders should state their position in this respect”, the PM said.
The Armenian PM is sure that the war against Nagorno Karabakh was planned in advance.
“One and a half months before the flare-up, the Republic of Azerbaijan held a joint military exercise with Turkey, and some Turkish troops remained in Azerbaijan after the exercise was over. In addition, Turkey recruited Syrian terrorists and transported them to Azerbaijan with the aim of getting them involved in the planned hostilities. If the aggression had not been planned beforehand, there would have been no reason to move troops from Syria to the Republic of Azerbaijan. Today, the presence of terrorists in the conflict zone is an established fact as evidenced by numerous authentic documents published on this topic. All these documents testify that the war was planned in advance. We are in the midst of a pre-planned large-scale war, which is a threat to the entire region”, Pashinyan said.
Editing by Aneta Harutyunyan