Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan says Russia has legitimate right to carry out anti-terrorist campaign in Nagorno Karabakh conflict zone, since the militants of Syrian terrorist groups fighting against Nagorno Karabakh from the Azerbaijani side are a direct threat for Russia, ARMENPRESS reports PM Pashinyan said in an interview with TASS, referring to the question that Russia has raised concerns over the reports of deployment of militants from the Middle East, particularly Syria and Libya.
“Following the outbreak of Nagorno Karbakah war and the reports that those mercenaries participate in the war against Nagorno Karabakh, there have been reports, including from Arabic media, that some of those groups have been crushed in the battlefield and have spread in different directions. For me it’s clear that those Syrian militants, those who survived just head to Russia, because I think they consider Russia an enemy like Nagorno Karabakh or Armenia. The issue is how this process will continue. Will Russia wait for all those elements to move to Russia and carry out an anti-terrorist campaign there” I don’t know. Maybe the Russian Government or the special services are thinking of the possibility of initiating an anti-terrorist campaign just in the hotbed?’’, Pashinyan said.
‘’Including in Nagorno Karabakh?’’, asked the reporter.
‘’Including in Nagorno Karabakh. Russia conducted anti-terrorism campaign in Syria, which is quite far from Russia, because the actions of the Syrian militants and terrorists were a direct threat to the national security of Russia. Now already the Russian experts say that they are just 80 km away from the Russian border, of course, I cannot assess the correctness of those assessments. This is totally another situation. And I think Russia has legitimate right and grounds to react to this situation’’, the PM Said.
Azerbaijan, directly backed by Turkey, unleashed war against Artsakh on September 27. Turkey, in addition to various types of assistance to Azerbaijan, including using its own air force against Artsakh and the Republic of Armenia, deployed thousands of mercenaries and terrorists in Azerbaijan to fight against Artsakh.
On October 6, President of Artsakh (Nagorno Karabakh) Araryik Harutyunyan had called for an establishment of a new international anti-terrorism coalition.
”Today Artsakh and Armenia have appeared in the frontline of fight against international terrorism in the true sense of the word. But in our case, the difference is that this enemy threatening the global civilization has challenged our Motherland hidden under the flag of a UN member state, together with the regular army of that country and very often instead of that regular army. In the modern world there is nothing that can be hidden from anyone, everyone has seen and recorded the infiltration of the international jihadist terrorist network into Azerbaijan. No country in the world has any more doubts that the target of this monstrous terrorist network are the civilians of Artsakh and Armenia, our cities and villages, our right to live free and decide or fate.
Turkey, that continuously nourishes and controls this network, with the consent of Azerbaijan’s opportunistic leadership, uses Azerbaijan as a tool for creating a new hotbed of international terrorism in the South Caucasus region. I am confident that any participant of the global politics, be it a state or international organization, well understands the dangerous consequences of such developments. We still remember the consequences of the aspiration of the jihadist gangster groups to create a state-like entity in Iraq and Syria. All countries of the world have their share of responsibility of making Turkey’s plan to make Azerbaijan a terrorist hotbed in the South Caucasus region a failure.
Armenia and Artsakh are today in the frontline of the struggle, because they accepted the challenge with dignity. And we will struggle until the final victory. But this is not only the problem of Artsakh and Armenia.
As a President of a country struggling for its independence, I call on the civilized world to have an active participation in this struggle.
Creation of an effective coalition against international terrorism is an imperative’’, Harutyunyan said on October 6.
