PodcastTurkey says it will send troops to help Azerbaijan if requested
Turkey said it would not hesitate to send soldiers and provide military support for Azerbaijan if such a request were made by Baku. "There is already a military cooperation agreement between Turkey and Azerbaijan. If there is a need and Azerbaijan makes such a request, then Turkey would do it openly [provide military support]," Vice President Fuat Oktay said on Oct. 21.
Duvar English / Reuters
Turkey will not hesitate to send soldiers and provide military support for Azerbaijan if such a request is made by Baku, Vice President Fuat Oktay said on Oct. 21, adding there was no such request at the moment.
Russia tells Turkey its concerns about reports on Syrian rebels sent to Nagorno-Karabakh"There is already a military cooperation agreement between Turkey and Azerbaijan. If there is a need and Azerbaijan makes such a request, then Turkey would do it openly [provide military support]. Our President has already made this public in a clear way from day one. Therefore, Turkey does not need to go through a roundabout way [of providing military support]," Oktay said, during an interview with broadcaster CNN Türk.
Earlier, Armenia's prime minister said he saw no possibility of a diplomatic solution at this stage in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict with Azerbaijan. Turkey has vowed full solidarity with Azerbaijan and has accused Yerevan of occupying Azeri lands.
Oktay also criticized the OSCE's Minsk group - formed to mediate the conflict and led by France, Russia and the United States - of trying to keep the issue unresolved and supporting Armenia, both politically and militarily.
HDP deputy asks Defense Minister Akar if Turkey has been sending Syrian fighters to Nagorno-KarabakhTurkey has previously denied reports that it sent Syrian fighters to help Azerbaijan fight Armenian forces over the Nagorno-Karabakh region, saying the assertions were part of Armenia’s attempts to create “dark propaganda” about Turkey.
Syrian combatants however told various media outlets that Ankara was sending fighters from Turkish-allied rebel groups in northern Syria to support Azerbaijan.
In the latest flare-up of the decades-old conflict, hundreds of people have been killed since Sept. 27 in clashes in and around Nagorno-Karabakh, which is part of Azerbaijan but populated and controlled by ethnic Armenians.
The violence has raised fears of a wider war drawing in Turkey and Russia, which has a defense pact with Armenia, and increased concern about the security of pipelines in Azerbaijan that carry Azeri gas and oil to world markets.