Turkey Said To Be Involved in Neighboring Fight

The Armenian ambassador to Russia on Monday complained that some 4,000 Turkish fighters were being deployed to Azerbaijan, to assist the latter in its battle against Armenia over the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh. According to the Armenian government, Ankara in recent days has also supplied Baku with military advisers, drones and fighter jets. Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev denied the accusations, his office calling them a “provocation by the Armenian side and complete nonsense.” Turkey has in the past few weeks promised to assist Azerbaijan if and when open hostilities erupt, which they eventually did Sunday morning. Several dozen Azeri and Armenian civilians and military personnel have been killed in the past 48 hours of fighting, with over 100 injured. The Nagorno-Karabakh region in Azerbaijan, containing an Armenian majority, declared its independence in 1992 after years of struggles and limited fighting with the Azeri government. The move sparked an all-out war, dragging in Armenia and claiming tens of thousands of lives. Since the mid-1990s, a tense cease-fire has been maintained, with deadly skirmishes and clashes erupting every few years.