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Azerbaijan knows Nagorno-Karabakh will never be its part – Vazgen Manukyan

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f57026cd23f054_57026cd23f08b.thumbChairman of the Public Council of Armenia Vazgen Manukyan believes that Azerbaijan’s offensive was to be expected.

“Azerbaijan is well aware Nagorno-Karabakh will never be persuaded into forming part of Azerbaijan by means of negotiations. The only thing it can do is to use military means. However, the point is that they have actually unleashed war, and if they had succeeded it would have escalated into a full-scale war. But they failed,” Mr Manukyan said.

The enemy was thrown back, suffering heavy losses.

“I think that along with this tragedy, with people killed and blood spilled, it has proved to Azerbaijan it cannot resolve the problem in the near future, which leads us to a period of peace. Large-scale hostilities failed,” Mr Manukyan said.

As regards international reaction, he said, “We have both friends and enemies.”

It is common knowledge Azerbaijan launched an offensive because Nagorno-Karabakh did not need such an action at all. However, it is difficult for them to admit the fact and make relevant assessments.

“The most important thing is that our soldiers, commanders and leaders on the frontline succeed,” Mr Manukyan said.

He believes that the armies of Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh are the most efficient structures in the countries.

Turkey’s Media Crackdown Knows No Borders

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Turkish security personnel struggle to take a sign away from protesters in front of the Brookings Institute before the arrival of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Washington, March 31, 2016. REUTERS/Joshua Roberts - RTSD14K

Turkish security personnel struggle to take a sign away from protesters in front of the Brookings Institute before the arrival of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Washington, March 31, 2016. REUTERS/Joshua Roberts – RTSD14K

(the atlantic) Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s security detail assaulted reporters and protesters outside a venue in Washington, D.C., at which the Turkish president was speaking.

Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s security detail manhandled reporters and protesters at an event at which the Turkish president was speaking.

Turkish media and the president’s critics are by now used to such incidents, but they probably didn’t expect them to happen in Washington, D.C., where Erdogan was speaking at the Brookings Institution.

The altercation with journalists is merely a physical manifestation of what’s been happening to Turkey’s free press since Erdogan was elected president in 2014 (after more than a decade as prime minister). Since then, newsrooms deemed critical by the president have been attacked, journalists arrested and charged with espionage, an opposition newspaper has been seized, and foreign reporters deported and harassed for their coverage. Indeed, Freedom House, the pro-democracy advocacy group, says the press in the country is “not free” following a five-year decline in press freedom. Reporters Without Borders, the media-watchdog group, ranked Turkey 149 out of 180 countries in its 2015 World Press Freedom Index—an improvement from 154th place in 2014.