At Baku Victory Parade, Aliyev Calls Yerevan, Zangezur, Sevan Historical Azerbaijani Lands, Erdogan Praises Enver Pasha

The two presidents held a press conference after the parade. Erdogan called for the removal of Nikol Pashinyan as prime minister, declaring, “We wish for the Armenian people to rid itself of the burden of leaders who console them with the lies of the past and trap them into poverty. Erdogan also warned that although the Karabakh war ended, “The struggle carried out in the political and military areas will continue from now on many other fronts.”

However, Erdogan did state that Turkey might open its borders to Armenia. “If Armenia leaves behind its irrational ambitions, it can also be part of our regional alliances one day. We destroyed their [Armenian] army. Yet, then we called on Armenia to cooperate with us,” he said.

He pointed to Aliyev’s proposal to create a six-state grouping for peace in the South Caucasus and said Armenia could join it alongside Russia, Turkey, Azerbaijan, Iran and Georgia, but only “should Yerevan fulfil its responsibilities related to such a platform.” This could lead to opening the Turkish borders. Turkey and Azerbaijan have blockaded Armenia and Artsakh since the 1990s.

Strangely, Erdogan tried to claim that Armenia burnt down its own churches in Karabakh, perhaps in an effort to try to camouflage destruction by Azerbaijani forces. He said, “Armenia burned everything down in Nagorno-Karabakh while leaving the region. They burned down not only the mosques but also the churches. It is hard to understand why.”

Reaction

Mane Gevorgyan, spokesperson to the prime minister of Armenia, responded: ”We strongly condemn the provocative announcements made by the Azerbaijani leader in Baku. Speaking about territorial ambitions against Armenia seriously questions Azerbaijan’s readiness for establishing peace and deliberately puts regional peace and security under risk.” She also condemned the glorification of the ideology of the Young Turks.

Armenian Ombudsman Arman Tatoyan on his Facebook page declared: “These speeches are direct threats aimed at the life and health of the whole Armenian people, Armenia’s civilian population, an explicit terrorism, which are under absolute prohibition stipulated by the international law. The aforementioned speeches also affirm the Azerbaijani genocidal policy applied through methods of ethnic cleansing and terrorism during this war.  The Human Rights Defender of Armenia calls upon the worldwide international community to react and take substantive preventive measures with regards to those issues, which are in breach of fundamental principles of international law and undermine the whole international system human rights and humanitarian protection.”

The official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry Maria Zakharova merely said in a weekly briefing on December 10, referring to the Erdogan and Aliyev speeches noted above, that political statements should not disrupt the cessation of military operations in Nagorno Karabakh.

Azerbaijani and Turkish expansionism did not only cast eyes on Armenia but on Iran as well, leading to a strong reaction from the latter. On December 11, the Iranian government summoned Turkey’s ambassador to Tehran to discuss “meddlesome and unacceptable” portions of Erdogan’s speech. Erdogan reportedly read parts of a poem about how a border tore apart ancient Azerbaijani  lands “by force,” referring to the separation of current Azerbaijani lands from bordering territories in Iran.