Turkey played very instrumental role in recruitment process of mercenaries – Armenia deputy FM

The international community is well-aware that this imposed or instigated war has been well-planned jointly with Turkey. It is very obvious and documentally proved, Armenia’s Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Avet Adonts said in an interview to Indian media outlet WION, commenting on the ongoing Azerbaijani aggression against Armenia and Artsakh.

Question: What kind of global support are you getting when it comes to the clashes? We know that the region is divided: there are countries who are backing you, and the ones that are not backing you, especially when it comes to Turkey. So if you give us details about countries who are supporting you, how do you see India’s support?

Avet Adonts: The international community is well-aware that this imposed or instigated war has been well-planned jointly with Turkey. It is very obvious and documentally proved. There is no alternative opinion. So, the fact that the situation needs de-escalation is very obvious, all the international community with all its leaders are calling to deescalate the situation, to stop the military operations there, but the destination of all these urgent calls is Azerbaijan and Turkey, because Turkey is very much involved in these military operations, which has been initiated by Azerbaijan, and this is very new component within this part of the political map. They are practically there, they are helping, supporting Azerbaijan not only politically, but also in a very practical way, I mean the military presence there, their weapons, including  the airplane, the drones and, of course, the military personnel.

Question: So we have heard reports of Turkey sending jihadists to these clashes. If you could talk to us about that. Is it truesome?

Avet Adonts: This is out of question. There were people, media outlets, even countries questioning those reports now have it confirmed. Not only jihadist but different foreign terrorist fighters from the northern part of Syria have been recruited and they have arriving in Azerbaijan and Turkey played very instrumental role in this recruitment process. Reports on numbers vary – from thousands to five thousands, but documentally it is very obvious and very proven that they are there, to fight against Nagorno-Karabakh people, to fight against Nagorno-Karabakh defense army.