On September 14, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu said regarding the war provoked by Azerbaijan: “The latest developments related to Azerbaijan worried us. Armenia should put an end to provocations. Our bilateral negotiations with Armenia continue, but we tell them that this process will not continue without Azerbaijan. We can’t take steps independently of Azerbaijan, it is not even realistic. Currently, agreements have been signed, Zangezur and other projects, which will benefit Armenia a lot, but even they find some reasons against this, such as “don’t call it a corridor”. There can be progress if Armenia is more sincere.”
Since the beginning of the next phase of the Armenian-Turkish settlement, the de facto authorities of the Republic of Armenia have been trying hard to convince the domestic audience that the settlement process is supposed “without preconditions” and is proceeding independently of Azerbaijan.
At the same time, Turkey stated indiscriminately in all statements at the official level that the negotiations are proceeding in coordination with Azerbaijan. The de-facto officials of RA did not comment on this, other than calling those statements of Turkey destructive. However, the fact that among the conditions put forward by Turkey is the recognition of the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan, the opening of the so-called “Zangezur Corridor”, the pressure of the just demands of the Diaspora and internal Armenian national forces, and at the final stage, the issue of refusing international recognition of the Armenian Genocide will surely be raised, with vague wording and is hidden from the Armenian audience with excuses. Although, in the case of the current authorities, most of Turkey’s demands are, in fact, automatically satisfied due to the obvious coincidence of their and Turkey’s interests. Instead, the topic of the apparent economic benefits that Armenia will receive in the event of the opening of the borders is actively drummed up, of course, again distorting the reality.
By involving Azerbaijan in the Armenian-Turkish settlement, Turkey, among other goals, will solve one important problem through consistent pressure: it will achieve the cherished dream since the founding of the Turkish Republic, the opening of the “Zangezur Corridor”, that is, it will get a land connection between Azerbaijan and the entire Turkic world. With Turan. It is no coincidence that Turkey is also overly interested in the opening of that ill-fated corridor, of course, presenting it in favor of Armenia as “unblocking regional communications”.
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