Armenian Foreign Minister Ara Ayvazyan, in an interview yesterday with Al Arabiya News, said that Armenia’s top military leaders aren’t attempting a military coup, describing the situation as “political positioning” by some top military brass.

Ayvazyan also criticized Turkey for playing a destabilizing role in the region and said that the current status-quo in Artsakh is no basis for a lasting peace.

Al Arabiya, based in the UAE, is majority-owned by the Saudi government. The following transcript was released by the Armenian Foreign Ministry.

Q - Now, from Abu Dhabi via ZOOM we connect with His Excellency Ara Ayvazyan, Foreign Minister of Armenia. Welcome to the program. First, what are the reasons for President Sarkissian declining the signing of the decree? (Here, we assume the question refers to PM Nikol Pashinyan’s directive to dismiss Onik Gasparyan as Chief of the Armenian Armed Forces General Staff-ed.)

Ayvazyan - Well, thank you. It is indeed a pleasure to be with you. Of course, you know that we have a very complicated situation in the aftermath of the aggression unleashed by Azerbaijan against Nagorno-Karabakh.

The situation also had its repercussions on the internal situation in Armenia. Of course, we are now confronting internal difficulties, but I would like to emphasize the fact that Armenia is a democracy, albeit not a perfect one. In recent years we have witnessed significant achievements in this regard. This is the path of development that we have chosen, and we are not going to backtrack from this path. As for the internal processes within Armenia, this is going on strictly upon the provisions of the Constitution. It’s my conviction that the current difficulties can be overcome through dialogue, consolidation and unification of our society both in Armenia and Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) to safeguard and protect our state and national interests.

Q - You said the situation around Nagorno-Karabakh was the cause of the political crisis in Armenia and the attempted coup.

Ayvazyan: Of course, the results of the aggression unleashed by Azerbaijan had its negative impact on internal stability in Armenia, but I strongly disagree with the description of an attempted coup d’état in Armenia. 

Q: If not an attempted coup, then what is it Mr. Minister? 

Ayvazyan: This was a kind of political positioning of some members of General Staff. They just made a political statement, which is not an attempted coup itself.

This was also the assessment of different countries and international organizations. There are no elements of a coup d’état in Armenia. And Armenia continues to be a democracy and the current situation, as I said, will be dealt according to democratic standards in our society. 

Q:  Armenia has said that without Turkey’s support to Azerbaijan, Azerbaijan would not have achieved a military victory against Armenia. What is your assessment of Turkey’s involvement in the crisis? 

Ayvazyan: Well, it’s not a secret that Turkey played and continues to play an extremely destabilizing role in our region.

That role was vividly exposed during recent 44-day aggression unleashed by Azerbaijan. That country not only supported Azerbaijan but was involved in all military actions and phases of this aggression started from planning to ground operations. I’d like to recall that Turkey, together with Azerbaijan on the threshold of the war, conducted a large-scale military drill with the involvement of the Turkish air force. That country resorted to the non-usual toolkit: export of foreign terrorist fighters to our region for its power projection. 

The involvement of Turkish-affiliated foreign terrorist fighters in the war is a well-known fact that was confirmed by the international media, world leaders, and many international bodies, such as the UN Working Group on Mercenaries. And it is also verified by captured terrorists who revealed the network from recruitment to their transfer to the region. 

One hundred and six years have passed since the Armenian Genocide, yet Turkey continues to spearhead new atrocities against Armenia now in our region. 

Yet the South Caucasus is not the only target of Turkey. The world has continuously witnessed the destabilizing role of Turkey in the Middle East, in the Eastern Mediterranean and now in the South Caucasus. Impunity inspires and entails new crimes, and these words fully describe the attitude and stance of Turkey towards its neighbors. 

Q: You spoke about Turkey’s role in the crisis in Nagorno-Karabakh and you said Turkey provided fighters in the conflict. Is this role of Turkey still going on?

Ayvazyan: Both Azerbaijan and Turkey are now claiming that the conflict is resolved. By saying this they tried to validate the use of force as an effective means, a legitimate means to solve the conflict.

I would like to stress that this is an extremely dangerous precedent for conflict resolution in international relations. Now, we are hearing confusing messages from official Ankara. And I would like to say that based on the common past with Turkey, it’s high time to be guided by real actions, not messages. I believe the international community should play a conducive role so that Turkey changes its aggressive attitude towards Armenia. 

Regarding foreign terrorist fighters and mercenaries, which were exported, transferred to our region, I think this is an issue of regional and international security and that issue should be solved by an unequivocal stance of the international community. The terrorist fighters and mercenaries should be pulled out from our region. 

Q: Does Armenia think that the international community is working hard to find a solution to the Nagorno-Karabakh crisis?

Ayvazyan: First, Armenia does not believe that the aggression unleashed by Azerbaijan creates a basis for the solution of the conflict, nor an opportunity for regional cooperation.

Armenia stands ready for the resumption of the peace process, under the auspices of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs - Russia, US and France. We must address the core pending issues, which are not addressed in the statement of November 9, signed by the leaders of Armenia, Azerbaijan and Russia.

I would like to note that the essence of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is not a territorial dispute. It is about the survival of autochthonous population of Artsakh of the Armenian origin, who lived there for thousands of years. I

It is about their right to self-determination, their right to master their own destiny. So, we must address the right of those people to self-determination, which also entails the issue of the status of Nagorno-Karabakh.

It should be very clear for Azerbaijan and Turkey that the current status quo, which occurred after the aggression and the illegal use of force, can neither be stable, nor acceptable for ensuring a lasting peace, security and stability in the region.