Baku, Azerbaijan, Apr. 7
By Ilkin Izzet - Trend:
Azerbaijan has denied reports from the Armenian side that the country has Turkish soldiers fighting on its side on the contact line between Azerbaijani and Armenian troops.
The battles along the line of contact between Azerbaijani and Armenian troops involve only Azerbaijani servicemen, who are fit with the most modern weaponry and equipment, Azerbaijan's Defense Ministry told Trend Apr. 7.
The ministry was commenting on a recent report spread by Armenian media about an alleged involvement of the Turkish servicemen in the battles along the line of contact as part of the armed forces of Azerbaijan.
Azerbaijan's Defense Ministry said that such information is spread to hide the facts of numerous losses of the Armenian armed forces on the line of contact and divert the Armenian public attention from them.
Earlier, the Armenian media, citing the head of the armed units of the Armenian separatists in Nagorno-Karabakh, Movses Hakobyan, spread information that allegedly Turkish military takes part in Azerbaijan's special operations against Armenia.
He was reported as saying that Azerbaijan, on an instruction from Turkey, is hampering the activities in Armenia dedicated to the 100th anniversary of the "Armenian genocide".
The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts.
The two countries signed a ceasefire agreement in 1994. The co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group, Russia, France and the US are currently holding peace negotiations.
Armenia has not yet implemented the UN Security Council's four resolutions on the liberation of the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding regions.
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