The international community is not responding decisively enough to the outbreak of war in Nagorno Karabakh, Armenian president Armen Sarkissian said in an interview with Swedish Sveriges Radio AB.
According to him, the world leaders underestimate Turkey’s role in the conflict.
“Had Turkey not been involved, the military actions would have ended after two or three weeks,” the President said.
“The problem here is the Turkish equipment, the modern Turkish UVs, the technology, the F-16 fighters, the trained soldiers, the instructors, the officers, the generals who, in fact, lead the operations,” Armen Srkissian noted.
“We all know that Turkey has one of the largest armies in the world, it is one of the most aggressive armies in the world. They are in a constant war in Iraq, in Syria, and now here. I would like the international community to act faster, to put real pressure on Turkey, because that country is a source of instability. It is Turkey that does not allow Azerbaijan to agree to a ceasefire, Turkey wants to continue the conflict, because the longer it lasts, the deeper it will establish itself in Azerbaijan,” he added.
The President noted that Turkey’s involvement in the conflict is a sensitive issue for Armenia and Armenians, for whom the memories of the Armenian Genocide in the Ottoman Empire more than a hundred years ago are still alive. At the same time, the President tressed that with its current leadership, Turkey is trying to spread its influence militarily, this time in the South Caucasus
“The international community has missed out on Turkey’s very aggressive aspirations over the past decade. The international community has failed by allowing Turkey to behave as it does today. They were not stopped in Syria, Iraq, and now in northern Lebanon. They were not stopped in the east of the Mediterranean, they were not stopped when they violated the territorial integrity of Cyprus, occupying half of it. They have violated the territorial integrity of Iraq and Syria, and now they have come to talk about the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan. This is what the international community ignores and does not want to notice,” President Sarkissian said.
“How can you have a NATO member state that exhibits such behavior? How can you negotiate with a country that declares its desire to join the EU, but its actions completely contradict all European values?” Armen Sarkissian added.
