Historyoftruth.com posts the article “Turkey helping to prevent war in Nagorno-Karabakh” by Sabine Freizer, published in Today’s Zaman daily.
“Since the suspension of the Turkey-Armenian reconciliation process in spring 2010, security along the Nagorno-Karabakh frontline has deteriorated significantly,” the daily reads.
“Neither Armenia nor Azerbaijan is planning an immediate all-out offensive, but skirmishes could easily spiral out of control. Cease-fire violations are occurring over a wider territory, employing more sophisticated tactics and sniper weapons,” the source says.
“Turkey is upholding the non-binding Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) and UN arms embargoes against selling offensive weapons to Azerbaijan and Armenia, but Russia, Ukraine and Bosnia and Herzegovina are not. Clearly, Russia, as the leading mediator in this conflict, should cease supplying offensive arms and technology, and others should adhere to the recommended arms embargoes,” the author says.
“Turkey has demonstrated its solidarity with Azerbaijan and most Azerbaijani analysts are confident Ankara would be compelled to take military action if Azerbaijani statehood were threatened. Clearly if there was a war, there would be some public pressure in Turkey to assist its Azerbaijani kin. In 2010 Turkey and Azerbaijan signed a strategic partnership and mutual assistance agreement, stipulating they will support each other “using all possible means” in the case of a military attack or “aggression” against the other,” the daily reads.
“Armenia, meanwhile, trusts that Russia will come to its aid. The polarizing strategies of Armenia and Azerbaijan may try to put Russia and Turkey at loggerheads,” the source says.
“Neither Russia nor Turkey wants to damage the increasingly beneficial economic and strategic relationship over Nagorno-Karabakh. Peaceful transformation of the status quo is in the best interests of both. Turkey has an important role to play, working closely with Baku to convince it that a quick war is unlikely to succeed and confidence-building measures will not dent its fundamental war-fighting capabilities. Such measures could make the current situation more predictable and controllable and incidents more verifiable, so that an accident does not escalate out of proportion, against the interests of all,” the daily reports.
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