Ara Aivazian speaks about the internal political situation in  Armenia, the Azerbaijani-Turkish aggression and the root cause of the  Karabakh conflict

ArmInfo.Armenia has faced a very complicated situation in the aftermath of the aggression unleashed by Azerbaijan against Nagorno-Karabakh, the situation also  had its repercussions on the internal situation in Armenia. Armenian  Foreign Minister Ara Aivazian stated this in an interview with  Al-Arabiya, referring to the internal political situation in the  Republic of Armenia.

Stating that Armenia faces a very complicated situation in the  aftermath of the aggression unleashed by Azerbaijan against  Nagorno-Karabakh, he emphasized the fact that Armenia is a democracy,  may not a perfect one. And the recent years it demonstrated  significant achievements in this regard.  <This is the path of  development that we have chosen and we are not going to backtrack  from this path. As for the internal processes within Armenia, this is  going on strictly upon the provisions of the Constitution. And it's  my conviction that the current difficulties can be overcome through  dialogue, consolidation and unification of our society both in  Armenia and Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) to safeguard and protect our  state and national interests'', the Armenian Foreign Minister stated.

Once again stressing that the results of the aggression unleashed by  Azerbaijan had its negative impact on internal stability in Armenia  Aivazian strongly disagreed with the qualification of the attempted  coup d'etat in Armenia. ''This was a kind of political positioning of  some members of General Stuff. They just made a political statement,  which is not  an attempted coup itself. This was also the assessment  of different countries and international organizations. There are no  elements of a coup d'etat in Armenia. And Armenia continues to be a  democracy and the current situation, as I said, will be dealt  according to democratic standards in our society'', he said. 

Giving assessment of Turkey's involvement in the crisis Aivazian said  that it's not a secret that Turkey played and continues to play an  extremely destabilizing role in our region. That role was vividly  exposed during recent 44-day aggression unleashed by Azerbaijan. 

''That country not only merely supported Azerbaijan, but was strictly  involved in all military actions and phases of this aggression  started from planning to ground operations. I'd like to recall that  Turkey together with Azerbaijan on the threshold of the war conducted  a large-scale military drill with the involvement of Turkish air  force. That country resorted to the non-usual toolkit: export of  foreign terrorist fighters to our region for its power projection. 

The involvement of Turkish-affiliated foreign terrorist fighters in  the war is a well-known fact that was confirmed by international  media, world leaders, and many international bodies, such as the UN  Working Group on Mercenaries. And it is also verified by captured  terrorists who revealed the chain from recruitment to their transfer  to the region. 

Hundred and six years have passed since the Armenian Genocide, yet  Turkey continues to spearhead new atrocities against Armenia now in  our region. 

Yet the South Caucasus is not the only target of Turkey. World has  continuously witnessed the destabilizing role of Turkey in the Middle  East, in the Eastern Mediterranean and now in the South Caucasus.  Impunity inspires and entails new crimes, and these words are fully  describing the attitude and stance of Turkey towards its  neighbours'', he noted.

Clarifying whether Turkey continues to play this role Is this role  Aivazian stated that both Azerbaijan and Turkey are now claiming that  conflict is solved. And by saying this they tried to validate the use  of force as an effective means, legitimate means to solve the  conflicts. I would like to stress that this is a very dangerous  precedent for conflict resolutions in international relations. Now we  are hearing confusing messages from official Ankara. And I would like  to say that based on the common past with Turkey, it's high time not  to be guided by the messages but real actions. And I believe that the  international community should play a conducive role that Turkey  changes its aggressive attitude towards Armenia. 

Regarding foreign terrorist fighters and mercenaries, which were  exported, transferred to our region, I think this is an issue of  regional and international security and that issue should be solved  by an unequivocal stance of the international community. The  terrorist fighters and mercenaries should be pulled out from our  region, he said.

At the same time the Minister that  Armenia does not consider that  the aggression unleashed by Azerbaijan creates the basis for the  solution of the conflict, nor an opportunity for regional  cooperation. Armenia stands ready for the resumption of the peace  process, under the auspices of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs, and  they are Russia, US and France. ''We have to address the core pending  issues, which are not addressed in the statement of November 9,  signed by the leaders of Armenia, Azerbaijan and Russia. I would like  to remind that the essence of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is not a  territorial dispute; it is about the survival of autochthonous  population of Artsakh of the Armenian origin, which lived there for  thousands of years; it is about their rightful self-determination,  their right to master their own destiny. So, we have to address the  right of those people to self-determination, which entails also the  issue of the status of Nagorno-Karabakh. It should be very clear for  Azerbaijan and Turkey that the current status quo, which occurred  after the aggression and the illegal use of force can neither be  stable, nor acceptable for ensuring a lasting peace, security and  stability in the region", the Minister summarized.