The Turkish Ambassador to Albania, Murat Ahmet Yoruk has published an article in Albanian media, calling out the government for not taking sides in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
He states that:
“Remaining equidistant to both sides regardless of who the aggressor is not a healthy understanding of impartiality and only emboldens and rewards the evil.”
The article provides a breakdown of events from the Turkish perspective, comparing the conflict to those ongoing in Ukraine and Moldova. He urged Albania and European countries to support Azerbaijan as they did with the aforementioned countries.
“Azerbaijan deserves the justified support and sympathy given by our allies including Albania, and European partners to Georgia, Ukraine, and Moldova with regard to the conflicts of Abkhazia, South Ossetia, Crimea, Donbas or Transnistria.”
He also writes that Turkey’s “unequivocal support” for Azerbaijan comes from their “righteousness and it’s firm position to remain within the confines of international law.”
Yoruk called on the international community to pressure Armenia to resume sincere, substantive, and result-oriented negotiations in good faith.
Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama who is the sitting Chairman of the OSCE as well as Foreign Minister had previously applauded the ceasefire which was facilitated by Russia. The ceasefire did not last and Yoruk said that a ceasefire not designed to move towards an end of the “occupation” would be “fragile and temporary”.
He said that Armenia is targeting oil and gas pipelines that threaten the energy security of the wider region, including pipelines that pass through Georgia, Turkey, Bulgaria, Greece, Albania, and Italy. This, he said, leaves Russia as the only supplier of energy for the whole of Europe.
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