“During the most tense moments in Syria, Erdogan and Chavushoglu went to Baku with important messages. They continue to use the “Two States, One Nation” idea, which is meant to gather all Diaspora forces against Armenia. Turkey thanked Azerbaijan for supporting it during the invasion of Syria since the Azeri Ministry of Foreign Affairs welcomed this move. Erdogan also discusses the Armenian issue with Putin during every meeting, and Turkey has assured that it will make every effort for the conflict to be resolved in favor of Azerbaijan. Turkey supports Azerbaijan, and not only on a diplomatic level; an unprecedented number of military trainings have taken place in both countries. Turkey also supports Azerbaijan militarily,” expert on Azeri studies Angela Elibegova said during a discussion titled “The Changing Middle East and Armenia’s Security Environment” at the Voskanapat Analytical Center.
“They are united in their agenda against Armenia. Politicians and newspapers in Azerbaijan are inspired by Turkey’s military invasion of Syria, hoping that the next will be Artsakh. And if Turkey was successful, then Azerbaijan will also test its power in Artsakh. On some level, of course, Lavrov tried to imply that widespread escalations are not expected in the near future, but that does not mean that it will not happen in six months or so. The situation is quickly changing, which is unpredictable for us. It shows that we do not have a strategy,” the expert said.
She also spoke about the propaganda aspect of strategy. “It is important to work productively and flexibly, because Azerbaijan’s propaganda resources are well above ours… Unfortunately, I do not know what our propaganda strategy is towards Artsakh… What is our official position on Artsakh? I have not been able to find an appropriate answer to this question from any official or department. Why is this important to clarify? It will be used as the basis for which we will build our external propaganda tactics, and we will at least be able to be equal with Azerbaijan in the information war. We want to visualize and understand where we are on the Artsakh issue. It is also a good idea to not make contrasting statements every week.”
Gohar Hakobyan
