Armenia and Azerbaijan have proffered contradictory reports that Turkey has sent Syrian fighters to fight with the Azerbaijani soldiers against Armenians.
The Interfax and RIA news agencies on Tuesday quoted Vardan Toganyan, Armenia’s Ambassador to Russia, as saying Ankara had sent some 4,000 fighters from northern Syria to its close ally, Azerbaijan.
“According to our information, recently about 4,000 fighters have been deployed by Turkey from Syria to Azerbaijan. They are already participating with the other side, and it has been done.”
Azerbaijan has rejected the statement by the Armenian official. An aide to Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev swiftly denied the reports.
“Rumours of militants from Syria allegedly being redeployed to Azerbaijan is another provocation by the Armenian side and complete nonsense,” said Khikmet Gadzhiev.
Military clashes were renewed between the two countries early Sunday morning, with the Ministry of Defense in Azerbaijan announcing that it had launched a counter-attack along the entire line of contact in Karabakh.
While Armenia announced the general mobilization in the country for those under the age of 55 to confront the escalation in the Karabakh region, the Armenian Ministry of Defense also revealed that 16 soldiers were killed and more than 100 others were injured in a preliminary survey.
This article does not necessarily reflect the opinion of The Syrian Observer.
