After Syria and Libya, Erdogan’s jihadists arrive in Azerbaijan
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Alaina
- . September 29, 2020
- . Update: September 29, 2020 8:01 pm
After Rojava and Libya, the Sultan of Ankara, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, moves his cutthroat militias to the Caucasus, which has become the new battleground between Turkey and Russia. The Caucasus becomes inflamed again. For two days, the fighting between Armenians and Azeris have resumed on a large scale around the enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh.
The region, with an Armenian majority, is included in the territory of Azerbaijan but effectively controlled by Armenia after the war ended in 1994. When the Soviet giant collapsed in 1991, Armenia and Azerbaijan had become independent republics, inheriting together with the former Soviet arsenals also the conflict for control of Nagorno-Karabakh, which ended in 1994 with a ceasefire and the Armenian victory.
The Nagorno-Karabakh Republic, not recognized by the UN, is effectively integrated – including the military apparatus – into the Armenian state, which enjoys the support of Moscow, which deploys military and air bases in the region, with 4,000 men. Baku, on the strength of its status as an oil powerhouse, has close ties with the West, especially with Italy. The first recipient of Azerbaijani oil exports, Israel and Turkey: and in these hours the ” Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, while Russia has a more moderate stance, but sided with Armenia.
Turkey has strong cultural ties with Azerbaijan, a nation also with an Islamic majority, as well as sharing hostility towards the Armenians. Ankara never wanted to recognize the Armenian genocide perpetrated by the Ottoman Empire between 1915 and 1916. In recent days, Erdogan has lashed out at Armenia, accusing it of “being the greatest threat to peace and tranquillity in the region” and stressing that “the Turkish nation supports its Azerbaijani brothers with all its means, as always.” “It is not only Azerbaijan that declares war on us, but also Turkey,” thunders Armenian leader of Karabakh Arayik Harutyunyan from Twitter.
According to the Armenian ambassador to Russia, Turkey has transferred about 4,000 militiamen from the northern districts of Syria to Azerbaijan. “They are mercenaries. Military intelligence has repeatedly stated that they arrived at Azerbaijan’s Naxcivan airport on charter flights.” A few days ago, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that at least 300 mercenaries, paid between 1200 and 1500 dollars from Ankara, had been sent from the province of Aleppo to Azerbaijan.
The Greek City Times newspaper reports the claims of the journalist Lindsey Snell who on Twitter denounces that the fighters of the Hamza Division arrived in Baku via Turkey.Earlier this year, many reports denounced the Hamza division crimes, including holding women in prison after stripping them and using violence on them.
The group is made up mostly of Arabs and Turkmen, and they have become a mobile force of the Sultan Erdogan. As the war in Libya escalated earlier this year, the Hamza Division was one of the main groups of fighters transferred from Turkey to fight in the North African country with the Government of National Accord led by Fayez al-Sarraj.
The promise of a $ 2,000 monthly salary was a temptation for many Syrian jihadists, however as Hamza division leader told The National in June, “Now we regret coming. The price we paid is high.”Snell revealed that most of the fighters are from Syria, but that around 70 militants have also been to Libya. Snell also uploaded a voice recording of a militant, saying that up to 1,000 fighters will be transferred to Azerbaijan. According to Syrian Analysis, which cites sources from the Syrian opposition, Erdogan offers to jihadists a monthly salary of $ 600 to fight with Azerbaijan against Armenia.
