Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s provocations are a challenge not only to Armenia and Artsakh, but also Russia and Iran, the factions represented in Artsakh’s National Assembly said in a statement on the occasion of Erdogan’s visit to Shushi.
“After the genocide of Western Armenians in 1915 and the occupation of the historical cradle of the Armenian people, Turkey has been trying to do the same to Eastern Armenians for the last hundred years,” the MPs said, adding that those plans have always failed due to the organized struggle of the Armenian people.
“Taking advantage of the favorable international and regional conditions, on September 27, 2020, Turkey and Azerbaijan, by treacherously attacking the Artsakh Republic with the involvement of international terrorist groups, again tried to subject Armenians to genocide,” the statement reads.
Thousands of people were deprived of their homeland, destroyed, and hundreds of national-Christian monuments were desecrated due to the forcible deportation of the Armenian population from its historical homeland.
“We view Erdogan’s uninvited visit to the occupied territories of Artsakh, particularly the once prosperous capital of Shushi, as a threat and a new attempt to display force. It is a continuation of the opening of the “trophy park” in Baku, which implies the adoption of new policy of psychological and moral pressures on the Armenian people in the post-war period,” the National Assembly said.
“Erdogan’s provocative action is an attempt to thwart Russia’s peacekeeping activities in the region, a devilish plan to shatter the fragile stability,” the MPs said, adding that “such a step by the President of Turkey is a new challenge not only to Armenia and Artsakh, but also to Russia and Iran.”
They appeal to international structures – the OSCE Minsk Group Ci-Chairs, particularly the Russian Federation – to curb Turkey’s aggressive aspirations, which are fraught with new dangers.
They also call on all Armenians to unite to resist these new challenges in these difficult days.
