Turkey and Armenia exchange accusations in context of Karabakh fighting

The Turkish air forces are involved in the hostilities on the side of Azerbaijan, the Armenian Ministry of Defence (MoD) has stated. The Turkish authorities claim that they are not participating in the warfare in the Karabakh conflict zone, in their turn, blaming Armenia for attracting militants from the Middle East there.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that combat actions have been going on in the Karabakh conflict zone since September 27. The martial law is in force in Armenia, Nagrono-Karabakh and Azerbaijan. The Armenian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) has announced that Turkish air fighters have supported the attacks of Azerbaijani troops. In his turn, Mevlyut Chavusoglu, the head of the Turkish MFA, has confirmed his country's readiness to provide military assistance to Azerbaijan.

At a press conference, Artsrun Ovannisyan, the spokesman of the operative headquarters under the Armenian MoD, has stated that Azerbaijan had handed over the control over the air operations in Nagorno-Karabakh to the Turkish air forces.

Mr Ovannisyan claims that on September 30, from 10:00 a.m. local time, the Turkish F-16 fighter, which took off from Kurdamir, together with the Azerbaijani Su-25 fighter and "Bairaktar" reconnaissance unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs or drones), flying at high altitude, launched missile strikes on the settlements in the Gadrut and Martuni Districts of Nagorno-Karabakh. According to Ovannisyan, the aircrafts operate under the command of a Turkish remote command post located in the Erzrum-Kars section.

The Turkish MoD has denied the Armenian report about the participation in hostilities on the side of Azerbaijan. "False allegations have been made, not based on any evidence, that Turkish aircrafts and drones were used against Armenian troops," the Turkish MoD stated in its September 30 message posted on the website of the "TRT haber" Turkish State TV Channel.

Armenia is making use of militants of the Syrian wing of the Kurdistan Workers' Party, banned in Turkey, to attack the civilian population of Azerbaijan, Sirriberk Arslan, a columnist for the "Sabah" newspaper, wrote in the article "Here are KWP members on the Armenian front".

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlyut Chavusoglu, in his turn, has announced a transfer of "mercenaries from among ethnic Armenians" from the Middle East to Armenia, as well as to the territories not controlled by Baku.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on October 1, 2020 at 02:47 am MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.