Statement by Ambassador Armen Papikyan on Turkey's aggressive policy and military posturing as destabilizing factor in the South Caucasus

30 July, 2020

Mr. Chairman,

Two weeks ago, we informed participating States of the military offensive of Azerbaijan against Armenia at the north-eastern part of the border. Even though the active hostilities have ceased, Azerbaijan continues to violate the ceasefire. Three days ago, an Armenian serviceman was fatally wounded by the sniper fire, and yesterday another serviceman was wounded again by the sniper fire.

Furthermore, Azerbaijan announced joint large-scale military exercise with Turkey to be held from July 29 to August 10 in Baku, Nakhichevan, Ganja, Kurdamir and Yevlakh with the participation of thousands of military personnel, hundreds of armoured combat vehicles and artillery pieces and military aviation, including combat aircrafts and UAVs. It should be stressed that all these developments are taking place a few days after the statement was issued by the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs, where the Co-Chairs particularly emphasized the importance of strictly adhering to the ceasefire and called to refrain from any provocative action in this delicate period. Therefore, we view these drills as deliberate joint provocation aimed to further increase tensions in the region.

All the above mentioned demonstrate that the leadership of Azerbaijan, through its provocative actions, is undermining the efforts of the international mediators aimed at de-escalating the situation and resuming the peace process, thus bearing full responsibility for the consequences of further destabilization.

We have already discussed at length the aggressive militaristic policy of Azerbaijan directed against Armenia and Artsakh. Since it is apparent that, without a strong support from Turkey Azerbaijan would not be able to sustain the instability on the borders, we would like to specifically draw the attention of the OSCE participating States to evolving aggressive policy and military posturing of Turkey towards Armenia, in particular, and in the South Caucasus region in general. Turkish military posturing against Armenia is also manifested in its extensive military involvement in Nakhichevan. We are convinced that we shall not overlook the role that Turkey played in the recent flare up along Armenia-Azerbaijan border.

Ever since the attack launched by Azerbaijani Armed Forces on July 12 at the north-eastern part of the state border of Armenia, Turkey was the only OSCE participating State, which expressed its unconditional support to the Azerbaijani military adventurism against Armenia.

The high-level officials of Turkey, including President Erdogan, Ministers of Foreign Affairs and Defence, issued several statements containing groundless accusations against Armenia and its people. Turkey also pledged to upgrade Azerbaijan’s military equipment and supply new systems, including drones, missiles and electronic warfare devices. Please note that these statements were made when an active armed offensive by Azerbaijan was still ongoing.

This stance of Turkey has been in a stark dissonance with the positions and approaches expressed by responsible members of the international community, who were calling for immediate cessation of hostilities.

Turkey’s statements, aside from fuelling the tensions on the ground, exhibited clear regional ambition towards the South Caucasus, which the President of Turkey, along with other officials, attempted to substantiate by referring to Turkey’s “historic mission” in the region. For Armenia and Armenian people these statements are reminiscent of our past tragedy - the Genocide of the Armenian people perpetrated and carried out by the Ottoman Empire, which Turkish authorities continously deny. Even more, in recent years Turkey’s leader started to justify Armenian Genocide, calling its victims “bandits” and the survivors of Genocide “leftovers of the sword”. For the record, many people living in the Republic of Armenia are descendants of those survivors, who have every reason to resist regional ambitions of Turkey which are framed in the dubious notions of kinship solidarity and denial of the Armenian Genocide.

Invoking its historical mission and ethnic or religious affiliations, Turkey has already destabilized the situation in a number of neighbouring regions: the Middle East, Eastern Mediterranean and North Africa causing immeasurable sufferings to the peoples of those regions.

With its approaches and posturing, Turkey is a security threat for Armenia and the region, and a broad regional and international cooperation is needed to counter it.

Mr. Chairman,

Since the early stages of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, Turkey, despite being a member of the OSCE Minsk Group, has been playing a destructive role in the resolution process. We never see Turkey exhibit responsible and balanced behaviour, which should be part and parcel of foreign policy posture of a country with an ambition of being an important player in the region. The stance and the open encouragement by the Turkish leadership of Azerbaijan’s maximalist approaches in the Nagorno Karabakh conflict resolution process and most notably during the recent aggression of Azerbaijan against Armenia come to show that Turkey remains part of the problem and not the solution. Turkey’s provocative and biased stance seriously undermines the peaceful settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and proves that Turkey cannot be involved in any international process related to the conflict and first and foremost within the OSCE framework. In this context, I would like to reiterate the long-standing position of Armenia with regards to the composition of the HLPG. After the July escalation those concerns are undeniably justified and no activity of the HLPG which involves the Turkish officer will be supported by Armenia.

Mr. Chairman,

Armenia as a responsible member of the international community, implemented in good faith all its commitments, including with regards to arms control regimes and CSBMs.

Despite all anti-Armenian policies, every year Armenia hosted military inspections from Turkey under the CFE Treaty and the Vienna Document. It is worth mentioning that inspections were carried out mainly along the Armenia-Azerbaijan state border. In 2019 Turkey conducted two inspections under the CFE Treaty and the Vienna Document in the Tavush province of Armenia which has come under attack by Azerbaijan in July 2020. Given the recent flare-up at the border and the openly expressed support and military assistance by Turkey to Azerbaijan, the Republic of Armenia has legitimate concerns as to the true intentions behind those military inspections.

Moreover, the joint military exercise that is currently underway is not the first one conducted in the immediate proximity of Armenia’s borders as an intimidation tactic against Armenia. Here I should recall that on previous occasions, particularly during the 851^st, 857^th and 914^th meetings of the OSCE Forum for Security Cooperation the delegation of Armenia requested the Turkish delegation to provide information on Turkey-Azerbaijan joint military exercises. Our requests remained unanswered, which once again shows that Turkey is not ready to address legitimate security concerns of Armenia in a transparent and trustful manner.

Under these circumstances the Republic of Armenia through its Note Verbal distributed under the reference number SEC.DEL/273/20 informed the OSCE participating States and the State Parties to the CFE Treaty that it will not be in a position to accept military inspections and guest inspectors from Turkey under the CFE Treaty and the Vienna Document, as any military inspection carried out on the territory of the Republic of Armenia by Turkey will affect adversely the security interests of Armenia and may undermine security of its population which run contrary to the principles and spirit of the CFE Treaty and Vienna Document.

At the same time, I should underscore that Armenia remains committed to the implementation of the CFE Treaty and the Vienna Document. It is our firm conviction that arms control regimes in the OSCE area and beyond are indispensable tools for increasing transparency, predictability and accountability, provided that those instruments are implemented in good faith.

Mr. Chairman,

In conclusion, we would like to call on the OSCE participating States to properly react to the hostile actions of Turkey against Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh, which constitute a threat to security and stability of the entire region of the OSCE in general and the South Caucasus in particular, and to take all the necessary efforts in order to prevent further escalation of tensions in South Caucasus.

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