Armenians face the risk of ethnic cleansing after the eruption of clashes with Azerbaijan and Turkey, two countries with a long history of aggression against them, Israel-based political analyst Uzay Bulut said on Tuesday.
The fighting started between Armenia and Azerbaijan on Sept. 27, marking the biggest escalation in a decades-old conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh, also known as Artsakh. Armenian officials allege that Turkey is involved in the conflict on the side of Baku and is sending mercenaries from Syria to the region.
“Through these assaults, Azerbaijan and Turkey are once again endangering the existence of Artsakh and the survival of Armenia,” Bulut said.
The 1915 events during the Ottoman Empire resulted in the forced deportation and mass killing of as many as 1.5 million Armenians, international scholars say. Turkey vehemently denies that killings were planned and coordinated by the Ottoman government. It says tens of thousands of Turks and Armenians died in ethnic clashes after Armenian groups sided with Russia in World War I.
“Turkey and Azerbaijan, whose total populations are over 100 million, are once again targeting the Armenian homeland of around 3 million people. They are utilizing modern arms to complete their century-long goal of ethnically cleansing Armenians from the region,” Bulut said.
Ahval