In an interview with the French newspaper Le Figaro, Pashinjan accused Turkey of supporting the Azerbaijani army in the fight for Nagorno-Karabakh with combat and drones and other military equipment. According to him, it also sent military advisers and “mercenaries and terrorists” from northern Syria into battle. “We have evidence,” Pasinjan says. “They use Turkish drones and (fighters) F-16s to bomb Nagorno-Karabakh civilian areas,” he added.
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The Reuters agency warned that the Armenian Prime Minister had not provided any specific evidence, and Turkey denied the involvement of its aircraft and the deployment of mercenaries from Syria.
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However, French President Emmanuel Macron also said at a summit in Brussels on Friday night that three hundred jihadists from northern Syria had joined the fighting for Nagorno-Karabakh, according to information from the French secret services. According to him, they crossed the Turkish city of Gaziantep.
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Macron added that he intends to ask Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan for an explanation. “It’s unacceptable,” he said. He also called on the North Atlantic Alliance, of which Turkey is a member, to address Turkish action in the South Caucasus.
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Shot of the Armenian Ministry of Defense, which is to shoot down an Azerbaijani drone.
Photo: ČTK / AP
In addition, Armenian Ministry of Defense spokeswoman Shushan Stepanjan said on Twitter on Friday that Armenian forces had shot down one enemy aircraft and one drone in the northeast of Nagorno-Karabakh. Already on Friday night, she reported the shooting down of four drones directly over the territory of Armenia, one moving in the central part of the country, and the other three over Nagorno-Karabakh.
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It is not clear from the footage of the wreckage what type of drone it is, but Azerbaijan confirmed in July that it is buying Turkish attack drones Bayraktar TB-2. Azerbaijan also has Israeli reconnaissance drones Orbiter-3.
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According to a spokeswoman for Stepanjan, 107 Azerbaijani drones, five planes and ten helicopters have already been shot down. However, these numbers cannot be verified. Baku denies any loss of aircraft.
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Alleged downing of an Azerbaijani helicopter
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Drones are being used over the area by Armenia as well, Turkey has released footage of one being shot down.
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NO COMMENT: The Turkish media published footage of the alleged shooting down of an Armenian drone
Video: HABERTURK, Reuters
Turkey wants a sultanate and is embarking on a path of genocide, Pašinjan said
In an interview with Le Figaro, Armenian Prime Minister Pašinjan accused Turkey of being responsible for the escalation of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. “Turkey wants to strengthen its role and influence in the South Caucasus region and thus change the status quo, which has been in place for more than a century,” said the Prime Minister of Armenia. According to him, Ankara wants to fulfill the dream of a new “sultanate”, which threatens the stability of the entire region.
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According to Pasinjan, the current situation is worse than the Armenian-Azerbaijani clashes in 2016. “It would be more appropriate to compare it with what happened in 1915, when more than 1.5 million Armenians were massacred during the first genocide of the 20th century. The prime minister said. “The Turkish state, which continues to deny the past, is once again embarking on a path of genocide,” he added.
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An unexploded rocket launcher in Nagorno-Karabakh
Photo: Hayk Baghdasaryan, ČTK / AP
Fighting broke out between Armenia and Azerbaijan over Nagorno-Karabakh on Sunday morning, which is described as the worst since the 1990s. They have already claimed dozens of deaths, including civilians. Baku and Yerevan accuse each other of attacks.
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The Nagorno-Karabakh dispute is long-standing. The armed conflict erupted in 1988 during the Soviet era, and Nagorno-Karabakh, with the support of Armenia, broke away from Azerbaijan in a bloody war that is estimated to have claimed more than 30,000 lives and resulted in more than a million refugees. Currently, the enclave and the adjacent Lachin Corridor, leading to Armenia, are under military control of Armenia. Azerbaijan considers the territory to be occupied.
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