Ganja, Azerbaijan, Feb. 19
By Elchin Huseynov - Trend:
Turkey is against the participation of Azerbaijani citizens in military operations in Syria, Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said on Feb.19 at a press conference after the meeting of Azerbaijani, Georgian and Turkish foreign ministers in Ganja.
Davutoglu also pointed out that if the Azerbaijani side provides intelligence related to the citizens of the country who are involved in the military conflict in Syria, Turkey will be able to prevent their entry into the country.
Davutoglu pointed out Azerbaijani citizens can freely move around Turkey.
The Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry is considering the issue relating to the country's citizens engaged in the armed conflict in Syria, Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov earlier said.
"As is known, after the aggravation of the situation in Syria, the Azerbaijani embassy moved to Lebanon. It is difficult for us to control the actions of fellow citizens in Syria. We are closely monitoring the situation and certainly do not want Azerbaijani citizens to be killed in the conflict," the minister said.
There was proposed at the Azerbaijani Milli Mejlis (parliament) to initiate criminal cases against the country's citizens fighting in Syria.
Recently, several Azerbaijanis have been killed while participating in the armed conflict in Syria.
During the conflict in Syria which began in March 2011, over 140,000 people were killed and over 4.2 million have become refugees in Syrian territory as well as 2.3 million having fled to neighbouring countries. The main burden of receiving refugees lay on Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey. The total population of Syria before the conflict amounted to 20 million.
Translated by L.Z.