In case of military escalation Azerbaijan would become a good base for IS, says Armenian PM

YEREVAN, DECEMBER 4, ARMENPRESS. Armenia has information about the presence of numerous citizens of Azerbaijan in the Islamic State terrorist group, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said during a Q&A session in the Parliament, commenting on the question relating to the arms sale by some CSTO member states to Azerbaijan.

“I raised this issue in another context, stating that I am confident that the CSTO has all leverages not to allow a new escalation in our region, in particular in the Nagorno Karabakh conflict zone, but I showed that in this case the talk is not only about the security of Armenia, but that of the CSTO states and the region in general. My belief is that if we have a new military escalation in the NK conflict zone, this will become a very interesting environment for the IS terrorists who are losing their base in Syria. Azerbaijan in that situation can be a very good base for them. We have information that there are numerous citizens of Azerbaijan in the IS staff, and if in case of a wrong policy they manage to expand their base in Azerbaijan, it will be very convenient for them to act to the south, north, east and west, but the CSTO states are located at least two of these directions. Our partners need to seriously consider this issue for their own security purposes”, the PM said.

On June 11, 2018 Belarus supplied Polonez multiple rocket launchers to Azerbaijan.

CSTO member states are Armenia, Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan.

Edited and translated by Aneta Harutyunyan