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Azeri leader says Turkish F-16 fighters not taking part in Nagorno-Karabakh fighting

Earlier, the Armenian defense ministry reported that a Turkish F-16 had downed Armenia’s Su-25 jet; the Azeri defense ministry later rejected this report

© AP Photo/Susan Walsh, Pool

MOSCOW, September 29. /TASS/. Azeri President Ilham Aliyev has said Tuesday that the Turkish Air Forces’ F-16 fighters are not taking part in Nagorno-Karabakh hostilities.

Earlier, the Armenian defense ministry reported that a Turkish F-16 had downed Armenia’s Su-25 jet. The Azeri defense ministry later rejected this report.

"We do not have this information. I was recently informed that such a piece of news emerged out there. It is not proven by anything. The Turkish Armed Forces’ F-16s are not taking part in the hostilities in any way," Aliyev told the Russian TV.

Read also

Armenian PM says Azerbaijan’s operation in Karabakh was plotted during drills with Turkey

He also underlined that it is hard to hide anything in this age of modern technologies.

On September 27, Baku said that Armenia had shelled the Azerbaijani army’s positions and Yerevan, in turn, claimed that Azerbaijan’s Armed Forces had launched an offensive towards Nagorno-Karabakh, shelling regional settlements, including the capital, Stepanakert. Both parties reported casualties, including civilian casualties. Both Armenia and Azerbaijan have declared martial law and a troop mobilization. Baku reports that it took a few Nagorno-Karabakh villages and strategic heights under its control. Yerevan says that territories outside of the disputed region are shelled.

The conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan over the highland region of Nagorno-Karabakh, a disputed territory that had been part of Azerbaijan before the Soviet Union break-up, but primarily populated by ethnic Armenians, broke out in February 1988 after the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Region announced its withdrawal from the Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic. In 1992-1994, tensions boiled over and exploded into large-scale military action for control over the enclave and seven adjacent territories after Azerbaijan lost control of them. Talks on the Nagorno-Karabakh settlement have been ongoing since 1992 under the OSCE Minsk Group, led by its three co-chairs - Russia, France and the United States.

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