Turkey’s presidential spox praises Armenian PM’s peace efforts

A spokesman for Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan praised Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan for his efforts to find a diplomatic solution to the conflict with Azerbaijan despite problems in his domestic affairs. 

 In a televised interview with Turkish NTV, presidential spokesman İbrahim Kalin acclaimed Pashinyan’s bid to reach a peace deal with Azerbaijan “which was very important for the normalization of the two countries.”

 “Armenian Prime Minister Pashinyan has displayed a constructive approach so far. He could make it up here by bearing pressure inside [Armenia]. He won the elections. He conducts the [peace] process with Aliyev well,” Kalin said. 

 Despite an international will to reach an extensive peace between Armenia and Azerbaijan, clashes erupted last week between the neighboring countries leaving 207 Armenian and 71 Azerbaijani soldiers dead, in a most violent confrontation since the six weeks war in 2020 over the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region which claimed the lives of more than 6,500 troops from both sides.

Russia, US and EU called both sides for deescalation and asked to find a political solution through negotiation. 

 “There is a strong will for negotiations to prevail from now on,” Kalin said, adding that during the UN summit in New York the ministers from both sides met to continue talks. 

 “Now they are negotiating a peace deal. This will surely be an extensive deal, an important deal that will designate the steps towards normalization. It will dictate their borders, border security, corridor, the situation of Armenian citizens remaining within the territory of Azerbaijan,” Kalin said. 

 Kalin said Turkey obviously sided with Azerbaijan but wanted to keep in touch with Armenia. He said a meeting between Pashinyan and Turkey’s president Tayyip Erdogan during a summit next month in Prague, as well as the efforts by the Armenian diaspora  will make a substantial contribution to the peace process. 

Meanwhile, Turkey’s state news agency Anadolu omitted Kalin’s words regarding the peace process between Azerbaijan and Armenia in a story which covered other subjects of his televised interview.