Avoid Military Intervention Against Armenia – Bush to Demirel, 1992

The 41st US President George Herbert Walker Bush (in office in 1989–1993) passed away at the age of 94 on November 30. In this regard, I would like to republish a unique document that recorded George Bush’s conversation with Suleyman Demirel, the Prime Minister of Turkey during the Nagorno-Karabakh war.

It becomes clear that George H. W. Bush, in essence, with his warning prevented the upcoming Turkish military invasion of Armenia. This warning played a decisive role in the refusal of the Turks from aggression against Armenia.

The conversation of George W. Bush with Suleiman Demirel – 1992.

Recently, political columnist Suren Sargsyan published a unique document regarding the telephone conversation of May 1992 between US President George Herbert Walker Bush and prime minister of Turkey Suleyman Demirel. At least, published the document partly, since only the top part is visible on the image.

The following text is translated from Sargsyan’s post.

So, on May 11, 1992, the prime minister of Turkey Demirel called US President Bush. The conversation went on for only 11 minutes.

President Bush. “I know that you received my message in regard to the Karabakh question. We want to establish peace. Apart from that, I realize that you are pressurized from within the country. I strongly urge you to exercise restraint and avoid military intervention. The situation is extremely complicated.”

Demirel. “I also request our people to be patient. I tell them that military intervention is impossible. Simply put, we can’t solve the problem with weapons today. We will be also working with our Azerbaijani brothers.”

Bush: “Ter-Petrosyan called me on the past weekend, and I told him that we need peaceful settlement [of the conflict].”

Suren Sargsyan, political columnist, www.aniarc.am