Yerevan, Armenia: Turkey on Sunday vowed complete support for Baku and called on Armenia to give up its “aggression” after heavy fighting erupted in Azerbaijan’s breakaway region of Nagorny Karabakh. The worst clashes since 2016 broke out on Sunday between arch-foes Azerbaijan and Armenia who have been locked for decades in a territorial dispute over Nagorny Karabakh. Azerbaijan started “active bombing” along Karabakh’s frontline and of civilian targets, including in the region’s main city Stepanakert, Karabakh’s presidency said. The rebel defense ministry claimed its troops shot down two Azerbaijani helicopters and three drones.
“We will support our Azerbaijani brothers with all our means in their fight to protect their territorial integrity,” Turkish Defence Minister Hulusi Akar said. Azerbaijan’s launched a counter offensive to suppress Armenia’s combat activity and ensure the safety of the population. Azerbaijan had captured six of its Armenian-controlled villages in heavy fighting along the frontline of the disputed Nagorny Karabakh region. “Let us stand firmly behind our state, our army… and we will win. Long live the glorious Armenian army!” Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan wrote on Facebook. Civilians leave their villages after Border clashes broke out after Armenian forces opened fire on Azerbaijani civilian settlements. Turkey is a key ally of Baku with close cultural and linguistic ties with Azerbaijan.
Ankara has no diplomatic relations with Yerevan due to a dispute over the mass killings of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire which Armenia says is a genocide. The greatest obstacle to peace and stability in the Caucasus is Armenia’s aggression, and it should give up this aggression which will throw the region into the fire. Turkish presidential spokesman Ibrahim Kalin called on the international community to “say stop to this dangerous provocation” in a tweet.
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