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The French president blames Ankara for relocating 300 jihadist fighters from Syria to the southern Caucasus.
French President Emmanuel Macron has called on the Ankara government to raise awareness about the alleged relocation of jihadist fighters from Syria to Nagorno-Karabakh. This “crossed a red line,” Macron said Friday night at the EU summit in Brussels. Macron spoke of intelligence reports that 300 fighters from “jihadist groups” had been relocated to Nagorno-Karabakh.
According to Macron, the jihadists traveled from Aleppo, Syria, to the Caucasus region via the Turkish city of Gaziantep. These combatants are “known” and “identified”. The French president asked Ankara to “explain” the alleged relocation of the jihadists. Macron called on NATO partners to adopt this “behavior” by the alliance member. Turkey let us resolutely oppose it. He announced that he would speak by phone with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in the coming days.
Competition between Turkey and Russia
New clashes broke out in Nagorno-Karabakh on Sunday. The area, which has been disputed between Armenia and Azerbaijan for decades, has been relatively quiet in recent years. Nagorno-Karabakh is located in Azerbaijan, but it is inhabited mainly by Armenians, who also have the region under their control. The self-proclaimed Republic of Nagorno-Karabakh is not internationally recognized and is considered part of Azerbaijan under international law.
Competition between Russia and the Turkey to influence the South Caucasus region an important role. Oil-rich Azerbaijan has upgraded its military in recent years and can count on the support of the Turkey counting. Russia is historically regarded as the protective power of Armenia and maintains a military base there. Moscow also maintains good relations with Azerbaijan and provides it with weapons.
Due to an appointment at home, Macron will be represented by German Chancellor Angela Merkel on the second day of the EU summit in Brussels. She announced it on the Friday night after the end of the first day of the summit because she wanted to present an anti-radicalization strategy in a northwestern suburb of Paris. France has been rocked by Islamist terror attacks for years, killing more than 250 people. Many of the perpetrators come from France.
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