The Communist Party of Britain has condemned Azerbaijan’s ‘unprovoked attack’ on Nagorno-Karabakh, its continuing assault on Armenia and the direct military involvement of NATO member Turkey. At an online meeting of the party’s Political Committee on Wednesday evening (October 7), the CP backed the call from Armenia’s Communists for an immediate ceasefire, a negotiated settlement involving the UN and the avoidance of any ethno-sectarian mobilisations.
In particular, Britain’s Communist Party condemns the role of Turkey in providing hi-tech weaponry, air power, regular forces and jihadi fighters as part of an aggressive expansionist policy that has already seen military involvement in Syria and Libya, conflict with Greece and Cyprus and continuing attempts to seize the oil and gas resources of the East Mediterranean. The CP points out that this external aggression has been combined with an abrogation of Turkey’s internal democracy and the recent arrest of most opposition MPs including all representatives of the People’s Democratic Party (HDP).
‘Turkey’s action as a NATO member exposes the hollowness of that organisation’s proclaimed objectives of securing “lasting peace in Europe, based on common values of individual liberty, democracy, human rights and the rule of law”‘, declared CP international secretary John Foster.
He also noted that much of Azerbaijan’s hi-tech weaponry including military drones is supplied by Israel.
“We call on the British government to condemn Turkey’s actions and use its membership of the UN Security Council to demand an immediate cessation of attacks on Armenia and a negotiated settlement of disputed land”
, Mr Foster urged.