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Armenian president says Turkey deploying radicals to Caucasus

Armenian authorities have repeatedly said that Turkey is directly involved in the flareup in Nagorno-Karabakh

YEREVAN, October 22. /TASS/. Armenian President Armen Sarkissian and EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell have had a meeting Thursday in Brussels to discuss the situation in Nagorno-Karabakh. The press service for the president’s office reports that Sarkissian told Borrell that Turkey is deploying Islamist militant to the Caucasian region.

"Sarkissian provided details about the military aggression of Azerbaijan against Artsakh (unrecognized Nagorno-Karabakh Republic - TASS) with military and political support from Turkey. He underlined that it is all happening in the context of Turkey’s direct interference manifested by this country’s deployment of Islamist militants to the region, which seriously undermines regional and international security," the statement reads.

Following the meeting, Borrell called on third parties to stop dangerous and xenophobic rhetoric on the issue of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. He also called on Armenia and Azerbaijan to return to the negotiating table.

Armenian authorities have repeatedly said that Turkey is directly involved in the flareup in Nagorno-Karabakh. According to Yerevan, Ankara dispatches its military servicemen to help Azerbaijan and deploys mercenaries from Syrian groups it controls to the conflict zone.

Renewed clashes between Azerbaijan and Armenia erupted on September 27, with intense battles raging in the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh. The area experienced flare-ups of violence in the summer of 2014, in April 2016 and this past July. Azerbaijan and Armenia have imposed martial law and launched mobilization efforts. Both parties to the conflict have reported casualties, among them civilians.

As a result of the Russia-initiated consultations in Moscow Baku and Yerevan agreed to cease fire starting from 12:00 local time of October 10 for humanitarian purposes for exchanging prisoners of war and bodies of the dead. However, both parties to the conflict reported violations the very same day. On October 17, the two foreign ministries announced a new humanitarian ceasefire starting with 00:00 on October 18. Meanwhile, hostilities continue, while both sides accuse each other of violating the ceasefire.

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.