BEIRUT, LEBANON (2:40 P.M.) – Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said on, Friday that Turkish fighters arrived in the country to participate in military exercises even before the situation in Nagorno Karabakh worsened, but they did not participate in the armed conflict in this region.
“I confirm that the F-16s are on the ground, they have arrived in Azerbaijan to participate in military exercises. But they do not fly and do not participate in any kind of hostilities,” Aliyev said in an interview with CNN.
He noted that in 2019 Azerbaijan and Turkey conducted dozens of joint military exercises.
But this year, as a result of the coronavirus epidemic, joint military exercises between Turkey and Azerbaijan were held only twice, and one of them took place before the situation in Karabakh worsened.
The Russian Foreign Ministry announced earlier Friday that the tripartite consultations between Azerbaijan, Armenia and Russia at the level of foreign ministers will be held today in Moscow.
Russian President Vladimir Putin called on the foreign ministers of Armenia and Azerbaijan to hold consultations in Moscow on Friday, October 9, regarding the situation in Nagorno Karabakh, according to a Kremlin statement.
He also called for an end to hostilities in Nagorno Karabakh, for humanitarian reasons, in order to exchange bodies and prisoners.
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