Turkey puts its weight in the battles of the Caucasus … until “liberation”

Turkey has put a price on its rhetoric in relation to the ongoing battles between Azerbaijan and Armenia in the disputed Nagorno Karabakh region, declaring its determination to help its ally “to regain its occupied lands.” An announcement that is perhaps nothing more than an act of intimidation, at a time when other regional and international parties continue to call for a ceasefire, which has claimed the lives of more than a hundred people. Fakhruddin Al-Toun, media director for the Turkish presidency, said his country “is fully committed to helping Azerbaijan to regain its occupied lands and to defend its rights and interests under international law.” Stressing that Baku “only seeks to guarantee the safety of its civilian population near the front line and liberate their occupied lands,” he considered that “the world cannot deal on equal terms with the aggressor and the attacked party, under the slogan of the supposed principle of neutrality “.

This escalation came at a time when Yerevan announced that Ankara had shot down one of its fighters. A spokeswoman for the Armenian Defense Ministry, Shushan Stepanian, said that “a Turkish F-16 fighter from Azerbaijani land shot down an Armenian Su-25” and that the pilot “fell like a martyr”. A story that was quickly denied by the Information Director of the Turkish Presidency, noting that “there is absolutely no truth to the allegations that Turkey shot down an Armenian fighter”, while a spokesman for the Azerbaijan Defense Ministry stated that ” this information is another Armenian propaganda lie. “
Parallel to the Turkish escalation, the Kremlin sought to calm down by asking Ankara to work for a ceasefire in Nagorno Karabakh, considering, according to its spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, that “all statements related to support or military action, whatever Sean, pour oil on the fire. And highlighting that Russia is “absolutely against it.” The US position came in the same context, when Secretary of State Mike Pompeo called on the two parties to the conflict to “stop the violence” and return to negotiations “as soon as possible.”

Aliyev vowed to continue the fight and put an end to the “reckless dictator” in Armenia

Meanwhile, the forces of Azerbaijan and Armenia announced that the other side suffered heavy losses. At a time when battles continue, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev pledged to keep fighting, saying: “If the international community cannot stop the reckless dictator in Armenia, Azerbaijan will.” For its part, the Armenian Defense Ministry claimed that the separatists in Karabakh managed to repel the Azerbaijani attacks along the front line, noting that “the enemy suffered heavy human losses. He added that the Azerbaijani army has suffered heavy losses since the outbreak of the fighting, with the downing of some 50 drones and four helicopters and the destruction of 80 tanks. Yerevan also accused Baku of fueling the conflict and vowed to use weapons of greater range and greater destructive potential. The separatist government broadcast recordings from the battlefield, showing what it said were the bodies of Azerbaijani soldiers. Armenian officials confirmed the deaths of three other civilians, while Aliyev announced that civilian casualties on the Azerbaijani side reached ten deaths, bringing the number to 99.
In Baku, however, defense officials denied reports by separatist fighters that Armenian-backed forces had regained control of areas they had lost in Sunday’s battles. Azerbaijan said its army responded to an Armenian counterattack, destroying a mechanized convoy and an artillery unit, and then an infantry regiment supported by military vehicles. The Defense Ministry confirmed that its forces “continued an attack on the city of Fizuli” in the Karabakh region, “destroying four enemy tanks and one armored vehicle, killing ten soldiers,” adding that “the enemy … requested help to evacuate the bodies of soldiers and the wounded. ” In addition, Azerbaijan threatened to destroy the Russian-made “S-300” surface-to-air missile system, which it said was being transported to Karabakh.
(Reuters, AFP)

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