Turkey’s actions undermine the effort towards peace and stability in the South Caucasus, Armenian Foreign Minister Zohrab Mnatsakayan said at a joint press conference with his Egyptian counterpart Sameh Shoukry.
He said during the recent escalation at the Armenian-Azerbaijani border, Turkey was the only country to take a one-sided, very aggressive approach: one-sided in support of Azerbaijan, and aggressive approach toward Armenia and the Armenian people, in rhetoric at all levels and in action.
“Of course we see the military build-up that they are attempting. We are hearing about the use of the foreign terrorist fighters to be transferred to Azerbaijan or maybe they are already transferred. We see the heavy military presence, the build-up. These are exactly the moves which undermine the effort toward peace and stability in the region,” the Foreign Minister said.
“We are resolute in our defense and we will also resolutely deny any such policies which project power, which are aggressive in their nature and which are of destabilizing nature. We see this power projection from Eastern Mediterranean to North Africa, to the Middle East and to the South Caucasus as well. So, these are not welcomed policies at all,” he added.
As far as the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is concerned, Minister Mnatsakanyan said “we have been and remain extremely focused on the most important existential issues of our compatriots – the Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh.”
“Our focus and our ultimate priorities concern the sustainability of the very physical security of our compatriots in Nagorno-Karabakh and the question of status, the recognition of the right to self-determination and implementation of it without limitations. The security is in the heart of this very important priority for Armenia so far as the resolution is concerned,” he stated.
The OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairmanship, which comprises France, Russia, and the USA, has been and remains the only important international platform, format within which we are seeking solution to this conflict, the Minister said.
According to Zohrab Mnatsakanyan, “the conflict resolution can be based on compromise and compromise means that each of the parties has to take respective steps towards a balanced, measurable solution, which meets the interests of all. “
“It cannot be a “my way or no way” solution. Within this, I think we have the sensitivity of the international community towards this conflict. There is no such thing as bundling conflicts together and viewing them through one single prism. So far as Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is concerned, this conflict has its peculiarities, its history, its nuance, its important differences. Within this we value very much the very careful approach of all our partners towards the strictly peaceful resolution. There is no military solution to this,” he stated.
