The Secretary General of the Collective Security Treaty Organization Stanislav Zas on Tuesday said that Syrian mercenaries must leave Karabakh, adding that their presence along the borders of CSTO member-states poses a security risk to the entire region.
As part its support to Baku during its aggressive attack on Artsakh, Ankara deployed Syrian mercenaries to fight alongside Azerbaijan. The presence of these mercenaries were confirmed by French President Emanuel Macron, as well as his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin during the war. High-level United States security officials also acknowledged that fact.
Following the ceasefire, Ankara began a campaign to settle the mercenaries and their families in territories that were surrendered to Azerbaijan as a result of the November 9 agreement.
“We have information about the presence and actions of mercenaries from Syria in the Karabakh conflict zone. Any Syrian mercenary, militant must leave that territory, stop his activity as the creation of militant groups, squads and illegal armed units near the borders of the CSTO member states contains certain risks for our collective security,” Zas said during a video press conference Tuesday.
