Armenia calls on international community to prevent Turkish regime from interfering in its conflict with Azerbaijan

 Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan called on the international community to act to prevent the Turkish regime from interfering in the ongoing conflict between his country and Azerbaijan.

According to Russia Today website, Pashinyan said in a recorded speech today, that we are about to engage in a wide-scale war in the southern Caucasus, which threatens unpredictable consequences. The war may go beyond the borders of the region and extend to a wider range. I call on the international community to put all means of pressure and prevent any Turkish intervention in the dispute.

Pashinyan held Azerbaijan responsible for the new escalation in Nagorny Karabakh, stressing that the Azerbaijani attack would be  “appropriately retaliated”, noting that the Azeri forces suffered losses during their offensive operations in the region.

The Armenian government announced today martial law and general mobilization in the country against the background of the military escalation with Azerbaijan in the Nagorno Karabakh region.

Pashinyan said on his Facebook page, “By a decision of the government, martial law and general mobilization in Armenia have been declared. I call all reservists to come to the headquarters of the military commissions.”

For his part, Armenian Defense Minister David Tunoyan warned that his country’s response this time “will be more severe than ever,” pointing out that the Armenian army has all the necessary means for that.

For her part, a spokeswoman for the Armenian Ministry of Defense, Shushan Stepanian, stated that thousands of citizens want to register as volunteers to go to the Karabakh fronts, adding that “there is now no need to recruit volunteers.”

Stepanian said that the Deputy Minister of Defense in the government of Nagorny Karabakh, “Artur Sarkissian,” reported that “the Armenian side lost 16 soldiers, according to preliminary data, while more than 100 others were injured” during the clashes with the Azerbaijani side.

In turn, the Azerbaijani Parliament approved the imposition of martial law in a number of cities and regions of the country against the backdrop of the escalation with Armenia in the aforementioned region.

In a related context, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov confirmed his country’s continuing efforts to mediate stability in the NagornoKarabakh region.

During a phone call with his Armenian counterpart Zohrab Mnatsakyanian, Lavrov expressed his concern about “hostilities” in the region and the information received about deaths and injuries, underlining the need for a cease fire there as quickly as possible.

The situation in the Nagorno-Karabakh region witnessed a sudden military escalation, while the Armenian and Azerbaijani sides exchanged accusations about the causes of the escalation. These developments come two months after a similar escalation in the border region between Armenia and Azerbaijan in mid-July, where the two sides exchanged accusations of who caused the escalation.

Inas Abdulkareem