Ilham Aliyev’s recent menacing statement, promising to “return” Nagorno-Karabakh (Artsakh) to Azerbaijan, virtually repeats Turkey’s policy of expansionism aiming to connect the two Turkic republics, says a former minister of defense.

According to Vagharshak Harutyunyan, the Azerbaijani leader thus expresses his solidarity to Turkey’s leadership in an attempt to satisfy President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s ambition to realize the pan-Turkist program at the expense of Armenia, Artsakh and Nakicevan.

“One hundred years ago, Turkey committed genocide against the Armenians, a nation which has given the world talented people and scholars, and whose contribution is really great to the development of humanity. A number of states have recognized the genocide against Armenians, so should Turkey ever state that Yerevan belongs to them, it may receive a different kind of reaction by the international community.

Azerbaijan, however, is putting itself into the shoes of a loser – someone who suffered losses because of the Armenians,” he told Tert.am on Saturday. 

The former minister warned against “treating too seriously” the Azerbaijani leader’s belligerent rhetoric, adding that the situation in Nagorno-Karabakh “is far from highly explosive” to give ground to public concerns.