The statement of the Chief of the Turkish Armed Forces General Staff confirms that Armenia should never forget whom it is dealing with, David Babayan, Spokesperson for Nagorno-Karabakh President, has told ArmInfo when commenting on the Turkish Armed Forces General Staff Chief Hulusi Akar's statement about liberation of the "territories of Azerbaijan".
To note, the Turkish Armed Forces General Staff Chief Hulusi Akar said that Turkey "will do everything possible to liberate the occupied territories of Azerbaijan. Everything will be ok. Rest assured, we will do all we can."
David Babayan thinks that NATO should seriously consider such statements of Turkey. "What is this? Is this the official stand of the North-Atlantic Alliance or does NATO fail to control its members?" Babayan says. He notes that Akar's statement followed the statement of Azerbaijani Defense Minister Zakir Hasanov, who promised to "liberate" Nagorno-Karabakh in the shortest time possible.
"A rhetorical question arises - is this stand of Ankara coordinated with NATO? Do they want to unleash war here? I am not sure they do, especially given that NATO has repeatedly confirmed its support to the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs' efforts towards peaceful settlement of the conflict and the inadmissibility of resumption of military operations in the conflict zone," Babayan says.
At the same time, he stresses that Turkey's destructive stand is unacceptable. Babayan says that Akar's statement demonstrates that Ankara ignores the NATO and the United States.
Another natural question is how Turkey is going to help Azerbaijan "liberate the territories."
"Will it send troops to the South Caucasus? How will it be perceived by the countries of the region and by the superpowers? Otherwise, the statement proves to be either irresponsible or populist. If it is a populist statement, then the domestic political situation in Turkey is so serious that it causes concerns," he says.
Babayan stresses the need to understand whether Akar's statement is addressed to the domestic audience or it is an attempt to restore the pan-turkism and to increase the army's role, which has been minimized during Erdogan's presidency. -