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Armenia charged Turkish F-16 fighter jets downed from a Turkish Su-25, killing the pilot.
“At 10:30 today, a Turkish Air Force F-16 fighter took off from Gyanja airport in Azerbaijan, escorting the Su-25 attack and the Bayraktar drone (UAV) by Turkey The production period attacked the Armenian civil and military target in the city of Vardenis, “the Armenian Defense Ministry issued a statement today.
A Su-25 assault of the Armenian Air Force. Image: Passenger aircraft.
The Armenian Air Force was also tasked with providing aerial fire support to the air defense units protecting the airspace. “In the process, the Turkish F-16 shot down an Su-25 fighter that was on duty with the Armenian air force in Armenian airspace,” Armenian Defense Ministry spokesman Shushan Stepanyan wrote on Facebook. .
Stepanyan said the Su-25 attack pilot “heroically sacrificed himself” after the plane was shot down. She said the Turkish F-16 was operating at an altitude of 8,200 meters, 60 kilometers deep within Armenian airspace.
Ankara immediately denied Yerevan’s accusations. “The claim that Turkey shot down an Armenian attack is completely false. Armenia should withdraw from the territories it occupied, rather than relying on worthless misleading propaganda,” Fahrettin Altun, press aide to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, said.
Azerbaijani Defense Ministry spokesman Vagif Dyargahly also denied the information provided by Armenia and called the country’s accusations of shooting down the ground attack as “another lie in Armenia’s propaganda plan.”
The accusation was made by Armenia hours after Turkey announced that it would help Azerbaijan repel the Armenian “invasion” both diplomatically and militarily. Earlier, Armenia said it was ready to deploy Russian-made Iskander ballistic missiles in the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh area if Turkey sent F-16 fighters to aid Azerbaijan.
In July, the Turkish Air Force deployed several F-16 fighters to Ganja base for joint exercises with the Azerbaijan Air Force. People in the city of Ganja last week still saw a Turkish F-16 fighter flying in the sky.
Turkish F-16 fighter at the Ganja base in Azerbaijan in July. Twitter / 301.
Armenia is currently a member of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), along with Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan. Vardan Toghonyan, the Armenian ambassador to Russia, said the possibility of the country activating the CSTO after the “downing of the Su-25” was being discussed.
The CSTO is a Russian-led military alliance, similar to NATO, in which the bloc is responsible for protecting the security of any member that is attacked by foreign countries. If Armenia activates the CSTO, Russia could be drawn into the conflict and face off with NATO member Turkey.
The Kremlin has yet to comment on this information.
Nagorno-Karabakh is located in the southwestern part of Azerbaijan, but the majority of the population of this province are Armenians, who occupy a minority and always seek to separate from Azerbaijan to annex with Armenia. Much of the Nagorno-Karabakh region is now controlled by pro-Armenian separatists.
Location of the Armenian city of Vardenis (marked with a red circle), where the Su-25 attacker is believed to have been shot down. Graphics: ARROW.
The dispute for control of the Nagorno-Karabakh region erupted into a six-year war between Azerbaijan and Armenia from February 1988 to May 1994. Despite the 1994 ceasefire agreement and subsequent peace negotiations, the conflict remained sporadic.
Fighting continued to erupt between these two neighboring countries last week, when the two sides accused each other of shooting first. The armies of the two countries deployed heavy weapons, repeatedly bombed and attacked civilian and military targets, killing 84 soldiers of the pro-Amernia forces in Nagorno-Karabakh, many civilian casualties. . The Azerbaijani side has not announced the casualties of its troops.
Gloss (Follow AFP)
