In the escalating fighting between Armenia and Azerbaijan in the breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh, Turkey and Russia may once again be on opposite sides of a conflict.
Armenia accuses Turkey of supporting Azerbaijani forces, and Turkey calls Armenia the biggest security threat in the region. At the same time, President Erdogan says that Ankara is wholeheartedly on the Azeri side.
– I condemn Armenia for their attacks on Azerbaijani soil. Turkey will continue to stand behind the friendly and fraternal Azerbaijan with all our heart and with all our resources, Turkish President Erdoğan said in a speech in Istanbul yesterday.
The escalating and at times intense battles between Armenia and Azerbaijan has shown no signs of slowing down. Both sides accuse each other of having started and at the same time both Armenians and Azeris claim to have taken the lead in the fighting.
Many rumors abound about foreign combatants on both sides, but few facts are confirmed.
Turkey has been accused by Armenia of sending both fighter jets and military advisers to the area, which has been denied by Azerbaijan’s Defense Ministry and not commented on by Turkey.
Ankara is wholeheartedly on the Azeri side in the conflict. Azerbaijan has a large Muslim population and many have Turkish origins, unlike most of Christian Armenia. In both July and August, Turkey also held major military exercises with Azerbaijan.
Once again, Turkey and Russia risk being on opposite sides in a conflict abroad, as in the past in Syria and Libya. The conflict could be another strain on the fragile relationship between Turkey and Russia.
Although Russia has previously acted as a mediator in the conflict between the two former Soviet republics and is now calling for a ceasefire, they also have defense cooperation with Armenia, where they also have a military base.
The outbreak of violence evokes too many dark memories from the battles of Nagorno-Karabakh in the late 80s and early 90s. A war that claimed more than 30,000 lives.
Source: ICELAND NEWS