BAKU, October 26. /TASS/. Turkey’s F-16 fighter jets stationed in Azerbaijan could be used in case of external aggression against Azerbaijan, President Ilham Aliyev said Monday.
"I am often asked: what do Turkish F-16s do in our country? I’m tired of answering that. If you have satellites, then take a look, make sure that [the planes] are on the ground, not in the sky. They have arrived to take part in military drills and stayed here after the war started. Our Turkish brothers have left them here as a moral support for us. But should an aggression take place against us from the outside, then they [the aggressor] will see these F-16," Aliyev said in a televised address to the nation.
According to the head of state, there are "about five to six" Turkish F-16 jets in Azerbaijan.
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.