Turkish nationalists demand citizenship stripping of 123 scholars over Nagorno-Karabakh warning

Nationalists in Turkey have demanded the citizenship revocation of 123 Turkish scholars, after a recent statement made by these academics warning the international community about Azerbaijan's genocidal policy in Nagorno-Karabakh.

The Federation of Eurasian Turkic Associations’ chairman, Ismail Cengiz, echoed these sentiments, terming the scholars as 'Armenian-loving mankurts'. His statements were reported by the Once Vatan news outlet where he expressed his desire for these scholars to be immediately denaturalized and sent to Armenia.

This controversy originated from a statement the scholars provided to Armenpress on Friday. In it, they expressed grave concerns over the Azerbaijani regime's nine-month blockade and subsequent military operations in Nagorno-Karabakh. According to them, these acts had the overt backing of Turkey and Israel, with the rest of the world passively watching the unfolding events.

In their warning, the scholars highlighted the “clear danger of ethnic cleansing and genocide”, pointing to the realization of former ICC chief prosecutor M. Ocampo’s prior warnings about the situation in the region.