BAKU, Azerbaijan, Oct. 27
Trend:
Unfounded accusations that speak of the presence of Turkish troops and Turkish military aircraft on the territory of Azerbaijan were brought against us by only two countries – France and Russia, President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev said in an interview to the Italian Rai 1 TV channel, Trend reports.
“France said that through the President, Russia through the head of the Foreign Intelligence Service. These charges were brought against us immediately after the outbreak of hostilities. Although almost a month has already passed, not a single piece of evidence, no proof was provided to us,” the head of state said.
“In fact, I will say this for the first time – I asked the French side for the heads of relevant agencies to meet, discuss the issue and provide us with evidence. Nothing was presented to us. Therefore, these are all insinuations. All this is an attempt to cast a shadow on Azerbaijan. I regret that such unfounded accusations come from the co-chair countries, which are supposed to be objective. After all, we do not talk every day about how many weapons are supplied from Russia to Armenia. We do not talk about the fact that Armenia would not have lasted a day in the occupied territories without external assistance. Political support, military support, moral support – all this comes from countries that are supposed to stay neutral. Therefore, we strongly reject these insinuations. It is not necessary. We have 100,000 soldiers of the regular army. If necessary, we will announce overall mobilization, which, by the way, we have not done unlike Armenia. Therefore, this is all lies and slander. As for the participation of Turkish troops in operations, this is also a lie. There is not a single piece of evidence. The fact that Turkish F-16s are on the territory of Azerbaijan was a result of our joint military exercises on the eve of the conflict. We do not talk about how many Russian MIG-29s and Su-30s are on the territory of Armenia. We do not talk about the fact that 5,000 Russian troops are located at the base in Armenia in Gumru and, according to our data, there are periodical supplies of the Armenian armed forces from there. These are facts, in contrast to what is being said about us. Therefore, I suggest that those who want to accuse us first deal with themselves and then make such hasty conclusions based on false information,” Azerbaijani president said.