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Armenian Defense Ministry spokesman Shushan Stepanyan said the Armenian SU-25 fighter jet was shot down – and its pilot was killed – during clashes in the breakaway Nagorno Karabakh region of Azerbaijan.
FILE: An image capture taken from a video available on the official website of the Azerbaijan Ministry of Defense on September 28, 2020 allegedly shows an Azeri artillery attack on the positions of Armenian separatists in the separatist Nagorno-Karabakh region . Image: AFP.
ISTANBUL – Turkey and Azerbaijan on Tuesday denied an Armenian claim that a Turkish F-16 fighter jet had shot down an Armenian fighter jet.
Armenian Defense Ministry spokesman Shushan Stepanyan said the Armenian SU-25 fighter jet was shot down and its pilot was killed during clashes in Azerbaijan’s breakaway Nagorno Karabakh region.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s top press aide, Fahrettin Altun, called the claim “absolutely false.”
“Armenia should withdraw from the territories under its occupation rather than resort to cheap propaganda tricks,” Altun said.
Azerbaijani Defense Ministry spokesman Vagif Dyargahly also called the claim “yet another lie of Armenian propaganda.”
Earlier this week, Armenia also accused Turkey of sending mercenaries to support Azerbaijani forces in the ethnically Armenian region.
Turkey officially denies it.
But Altun wrote on Twitter early Tuesday that Turkey was “fully committed” to helping Azerbaijan “to regain its occupied lands.”
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