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 NATO Secretary General’s Special Representative for South Caucasus and Central Asia James Appathurai gave an online press conference for the Armenian media on December 15. The Internet press-conference was organized within the framework of the project "International press-center "Dialogue": Diversification of the sources of international news for Armenian media". This project of the "Region" Research Center is supported by the OSCE office in Yerevan.

In particular, in response to the question: “After the aggravation of the Russian-Turkish relations, some experts do not exclude the possibility that in case of further escalation of the situation, Armenia and the Russian military bases in that country will become targets for Turkey. What will be NATO’s reaction in the event of such a scenario? Will it take deterrent steps? What will they be?, James Appathurai said:

“I think that such speculations are unhelpful and I do not see any basis in reality to justify them. Clearly the situation south of the Turkish border is extremely complex and developments in Syria and Iraq affect Turkey most directly. Of course we support Turkey in its defence of its sovereignty and the defence of its air space, as we would any other Ally. In practice, we have been supporting Turkey by augmenting its air defence since 2012. Allies also stood by Turkey following the downing of the Russian jet which had entered its airspace.

At the same time, this incident also underlines the need for more transparency and risk-reduction measures as well as discussion between Ankara and Moscow to establish all the facts and avoid a repetition of this occurrence. Diplomacy must prevail and the NATO Secretary General has called for calm and de-escalation”.