Vice President of Turkey Fuat Oktay said that Ankara will send troops to the unrecognized Nagorno-Karabakh Republic if such a request comes from Azerbaijan. His words on Wednesday, October 21, are quoted by CNN Turk.
“From the very first day, our president has already outlined his position. Turkey will not hesitate, and our president certainly will not, ”said Oktay, answering the question of the interviewer.
On October 9, following talks in Moscow on the initiative of the Russian side, Azerbaijan and Armenia agreed on a ceasefire from 12:00 local time (11:00 Moscow time) on October 10 for humanitarian purposes to exchange prisoners and bodies of the dead.
However, the next day, the Armenian Defense Ministry reported on the activation of the use of drones by the Azerbaijani armed forces in the southern direction of the contact line in Karabakh and on the death of 28 more NKR servicemen. Baku denied this information.
Armenia has repeatedly said that representatives of Turkey are fighting on the side of Azerbaijan in Karabakh. Both Ankara and Baku denied this. Aliyev said about mercenaries from the Middle East who are fighting for Armenia.
The conflict in Karabakh began in February 1988, when the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Region announced its secession from the Azerbaijan SSR. During the armed confrontation in 1992-1994, Baku lost control over the region and seven adjacent districts. Since 1992, negotiations have been held on a peaceful settlement of the conflict within the framework of the OSCE Minsk Group, headed by three co-chairs – Russia, the United States and France.