Pelosi visit to Armenia undermines regional peace - Turkish Speaker

By Azernews

By Vugar Khalilov

Turkiye’s Grand National Assembly Speaker Mustafa Sentop has said that the US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Armenia undermines the regional peace, Azernews reports, citing the Turkish media.

Sentop made the remarks at the opening of the Cerkezkoy Industrial Fair, jointly organized by Cerkezköy Chamber of Commerce and Industry and Cerkezkoy Municipality on September 18.

Commenting on Pelosi’s visit to Armenia, Sentop said that the same person made a controversial visit to Taiwan last month, too.

Sentop emphasized that it is common for a country's speaker of parliament to visit another country, but this visit "has the potential to be provocative and aggravate the situation," in contrast to recent progress toward normalization achieved by Armenia and Azerbaijan. He went on to say that Turkiye has always shown its support for Azerbaijan in this process.

Sentop recalled that Armenia invaded Azerbaijani territory 28 years ago, and the Minsk Group, which was created by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) to resolve the conflict between the two countries, was not effective.

"In 28 years, I don't remember that one of these Minsk co-chairs, the speaker of the parliament, visited Armenia. I do not remember that one of the speakers of the US House of Representatives also visited Armenia,” he added.

The speaker emphasized that creating uncertainty and instability in order to be effective in different parts of the world should not be a policy pursued by a large state, and all countries should act in compliance with the principles of justice and peace while respecting international law.

Sentop stressed that Turkiye has been backing Azerbaijan since the beginning, recognizing its international legal right to liberate the occupied regions.

"We believe that Armenia should take a stance in support of maintaining peace and stability in the Caucasus. This is a critical problem for the people of Armenia and for the entire region," he added.

Meanwhile, Dmitry Peskov, Russia's Presidential Press Secretary said that his country is ready to welcome any initiative to improve relations between Azerbaijan and Armenia, Azernews reports, citing the Russian media.

"Russia is prepared to welcome all that is not in word, but in deed, everything that is not loud and populist, and that may contribute to the normalization of ties, as well as to the stabilization of the Azerbaijani-Armenian border situation," Peskov said.

During her three-day visit to Armenia on September 17-19, US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi openly blamed Azerbaijan over renewed conflict with Armenia.

"Our meeting again had particular importance to us because of the focus on security following the illegal and deadly attacks by Azerbaijan on Armenian territory," Pelosi said.

"We strongly condemn those attacks," she continued, adding that they "threaten prospects of the much-needed peace agreement" between the two sides.

Azerbaijan sharply criticized the US speaker's remarks, saying they misrepresented the situation in the area and were inappropriate.

Baku stated that it was obligated to respond to Armenian provocations to defend its territorial integrity, as well as the security of civilians and military personnel.