In an interview with TIME magazine, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan answered questions related to the ongoing hostilities unleashed by Azerbaijan all along Nagorno-Karabakh’s borders and the deployment of terrorist groups to the region by Turkey.

Below is the magazine’s article about the interview as released by Pashinyan’s office.

 In an interview with TIME, Armenia’s Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan doubled down on accusations that Turkey is already intervening militarily on behalf of Azerbaijan, claiming President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is trying to extend his influence in the region.

Armenia and Karabakh have now become a civilizational front line,” Pashinyan told TIME by phone on Oct. 2, accusing Erdogan of sending between 1,500–2,000 Syrian “terrorists” to the region in support of Azerbaijan.

In concert with Turkey’s military incursions into Syria and Libya and its volatile maritime standoff in the East Mediterranean, Pashinyan claimed: “Turkey’s action is nothing short of action aimed at reinstating the Ottoman empire.”

Asked whether his actions in the run-up to the conflict were provocative, Pashinyan told TIME that when he came to power, he made a historic call for a solution that met the needs of Azerbaijanis as well as Armenians. His subsequent statements came only in response to Aliyev’s reiteration of Azerbaijan’s maximalist position, he said.

Pashinyan said Armenia’s conditions for a ceasefire are Turkey “discontinuing its engagement” and “the withdrawal of mercenaries and terrorists or their elimination.” He claimed that mercenaries were harassing Azerbaijani villages, demanding the implementation of shariah law, and ransacking shops selling alcohol.

Pashinyan estimated that some 1,500–2,000 “terrorists” were present in Azerbaijan.”