Turkey’s goal is not ‘Zangezur corridor’ but whole of Armenia — Hakob Badalyan

Turkey’s goal is not to get the so-called “Zangezur corridor” but the whole of Armenia, political commentator Hakob Badalyan told Alpha News.

“That is, to completely take over Armenia in a political sense. They have already developed scenarios and plans,” Badalyan warned.

According to him, active Turkish-Azerbaijani contacts in recent days suggest that very specific planned work is underway.

“At some point, Azerbaijan may be able to take some action, and the preparatory work for this is quite evident. Azerbaijan is holding very intensive discussions with Turkey. Military contacts between Turkey and Azerbaijan occur when very specific planned work is underway. It is clearly evident that certain work has been done, and I believe Pashinyan is quite aware of this,” he noted.

Badalyan asked a rhetorical question: Will Armenia be able to withstand an escalation?

“The best way to solve complex issues that have not received a political solution is the military method. The problem is if Armenia is able to neutralize the risks of escalation. Naturally, they can only be neutralized by involving third countries. I believe that in the regional sense, Iran is undoubtedly in first place, and this problem can also be solved through intensive work with Russia and certain contacts with Turkey,” he noted.

According to Badalyan, it is good that Iran talks about its “red lines” and considers it unacceptable to encroach on them, but one should not rely only on these statements.

“Iran’s statements regarding its ‘red lines’ are very important, but in the case of Iran, as in the case of any other state, accepting ‘red lines’ as something indisputable would be a mistake. We see, for example, how many ‘red lines’ are moving in the Ukrainian war.

In this regard, I think that work to reduce escalation should be carried out both with the involvement of direct regional actors and with the help of those who are far away, but nevertheless influential enough. In my opinion, Yerevan is trying to do this. I do not know in what capacity it is doing this and how effective it is, but I see this logic, and it is acceptable to me,” Hakob Badalyan said.

He noted that the upcoming CIS summit in St. Petersburg will be a good opportunity for discussions for Armenia.