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The Turkish involvement in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is very serious, Thomas de Waal, a top expert on the Caucasus and the author of the book ‘Black Garden”, said in an interview with Yavuz Baydar, the editor of Ahval.

“For Armenia, Turkey is the biggest existential threat. It’s been in peace with Turkey since 1920; for a hundred years there has been no shooting war. And now suddenly Turkey comes in on the side of Azeris. [Such engagement] is a source of fear in the Armenian DNA – a huge issue for Armenians,” the expert said.

“Turkey seems to want to fill the international vacuum. The U.S. and Europe are absent, and the Russians do not really know what to do. Turkey and Azerbaijan are trying to exploit the indecision and weakness in order to break the OSCE process and remake it in their favour. It seems to be their strategy…”

Noting that Russians have troops in Armenia, but not in Azerbaijan, Thomas de Waal stated if Russia intervenes directly in Azerbaijan, it would jeopardize its relations with its neighbour. In the meantime, Russia’s reputation in Armenia is being lost because of this lack of reaction.

Reflecting on the possible deployment of Russian peacekeepers to Nagorno-Karabakh, he said that it is more difficult especially when neither side wants them, adding that "they have lost their authority.”