JERUSALEM — Israel has lined up with Turkey, terrorists and Syrian mercenaries in backing Azerbaijan in the current conflict with Armenia, and will eventually suffer the consequence of that unholy alliance, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan told The Jerusalem Post in an exclusive interview published on November 3.
Pashinyan, speaking from Yerevan through an interpreter via Zoom, blasted Jerusalem for arming Azerbaijan, which is intent on “carrying out genocide against Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh.”
“I suggest that Israel send this aid to mercenaries and terrorists as a logical continuation of its activities,” the Armenian prime minister said.
Armenia recalled its ambassador to Israel for consultations in early October – just two weeks after it opened an embassy in Tel Aviv – to protest arms sales to its enemy.
“I think that Israel should think about the following,” the prime minister said. “Mercenaries, Islamic terrorists and Israel are now on the same side basically. So Israel should think, is this really a convenient position for it to be?”
Israel should also ponder, he made clear, whether it really wants to be on the same side in the conflict as Turkey, which has moved thousands of Syrian mercenaries into Azerbaijan to fight against Nagorno-Karabakh.
Pashinyan said the involvement of Turkey and Syrian mercenaries in the conflict has badly complicated the situation: “Their presence in the region poses a threat not only to Nagorno-Karabakh, but also Iran has stated that it views it as a threat, and Russia has stated that it views it as a threat.”
The Armenian prime minister said that while in the past there was only indirect evidence that Turkey was mobilizing Syrian mercenaries to fight in Azerbaijan, now there is concrete evidence since two mercenaries were recently captured by Nagorno-Karabakh forces.
“One of them has testified comprehensively, and said that he was living in a Turkish-controlled Syrian refugee camp. He described how he was recruited, described where they became engaged, and how they crossed the border into Turkey at an official check point, but without anyone asking them any questions or checking them.”
Pashinyan said that the world needs to look at this new activity by Turkey and draw the necessary conclusions, because it will use this new way of implementing its foreign policy elsewhere as well, he predicted.
“Israel should ask itself the question – is it not fighting de facto alongside mercenaries against Nagorno-Karabakh? Is this a convenient position for it? If it is, God be with it. But I think that there will be specific consequences, and you will have to face those consequences.”
Pashinyan said it was only a matter of time before Turkey’s “imperialistic ambition” will be aimed toward Israel.
