French president Macron accuses Turkey to send mercenaries in Azerbaijan
-
Alaina
- . October 1, 2020
- . Update: October 1, 2020 7:13 pm
There is no good news from the Caucasus, and once again, France accuses Turkey of fomenting this conflict which died down in 1994, but reignited last Sunday. French President Macron, after denouncing Ankara of illegal activities in the Eastern Mediterranean and Libya, now holds it responsible for the escalation in Nagorno Karabakh.
Franceaffirmed on Thursday that the Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoganis sending Syrian mercenaries to fight in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, while Macron was working with Russia to reach a ceasefire between Azerbaijan and ethnic Armenian forces.
So far, Turkey has denied sending mercenaries to take part in the renewed conflict.but reports on the transfer of Syrian mercenaries to the Azerbaijani front by the Ankara Ministry of Defense are increasing.Armenia also reports that its Su-25 military jet was shot down by a Turkish F-16 “coming from Azerbaijani territory.” The Turkish fighter would attack in Armenian airspace, and the pilot of the aircraft would have died in the clash.
The news comes while fighting between Armenians and Azerbaijanis around Nagorno-Karabakh, but Turkey and Azerbaijan accuse the Yerevan government of lying. “The claim that Turkey shot down an Armenian fighter is false,” said Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s spokesman.
Armenia’s ambassador to Moscow said on Monday that Turkey had sent around 4,000 fighters from northern Syria to Azerbaijan and that they were fighting there, an assertion denied by an aide to Azerbaijan’s president, Ilham Aliyev, and Turkey’s government.On Sunday, the conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh exploded again.
The blood returned in this corner of the southern Caucasus that Azerbaijanis and Armenians have been fighting for decades. There are around a hundred dead, including at least 16 civilians. But the partial toll is missing from those killed in the ranks of the Azerbaijani army.
Germany, the United States, and Russia have urged the warring parties to lay down their arms, and tonight the matter will be discussed by the United Nations Security Council. What is worrying, however, are the declarations received from Ankara in recent days and especially in these last hours. Turkey, an ally of Azerbaijan, said it is ready to help Azerbaijan regain its occupied lands, adding that the only solution to the conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh is the withdrawal of Armenia from Azerbaijani lands. “At the negotiating table, and on the ground, we are alongside Azerbaijan,” warned the head of Turkish diplomacy, Mevlut Cavusoglu.
Some observers fear that the conflict could also directly or indirectly involve Russia and Turkey, already adversaries on many fronts, in Syria as in Libya, but which in recent years have always tried to cooperate to find shared solutions. If Ankara is openly on the side of Baku, Russia is linked to Yerevan by the CSTO alliance and has a military base on Armenian territory.
From Moscow come appeals to end the fighting. Russia has called on Ankara to work towards a ceasefire that will stop the violence and warned that “any declaration of military support or military activity unequivocally pours fuel on the fire.”
