Satellite images confirming the presence of Turkish fighter-bombers on Azerbaijani territory appeared in Western media. After these photos were published, President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev was forced to admit the presence of Turkish F-16 fighters on the territory of his country.
According to the Armenian portal “Mediamax”, in an interview with CNN Arabic on October 8, the Azerbaijani leader stated that “F-16 fighters are on the ground” and stressed this several times.
Aliyev said that the Turkish Air Force combat vehicles “had arrived with the aim of participating in exercises” (back in summer), but he did not give any explanation as to why the aircraft remained in Azerbaijan after the completion of the joint maneuvers this summer.
Meanwhile, Foreign Policy Assistant to the President of Azerbaijan Hikmet Hajiyev continues to assert that there are no Turkish F-16s in Azerbaijan. “There are myth makers, and there are myth destroyers. In this case, I will be a myth destroyer. Azerbaijan does not have F-16s, neither on our land, nor in our airspace,” Hajiyev said on October 7 in an interview with the British “The Spectator”.
In the same interview, Aliyev’s aide denied Azerbaijan’s use of cluster shells. Answering the question of why Azerbaijan did not sign the convention on the prohibition of such munitions concluded in Oslo in 2008, Hajiyev said: “We refrain from signing this treaty because the Armenian armed forces are widely using cluster munitions against us.”
It should be noted that the participation of Turkish F-16s on the side of the Azerbaijani army on September 27, on the first day of the large-scale hostilities in the conflict zone, was announced by the President of the unrecognized Nagorno-Karabakh Republic Arayik Harutyunyan.
The information was then confirmed by officials in Armenia. It was indicated that an F-16 shot down an Su-25 attack aircraft of the Armenian Air Force on September 29. A few days later, the Armenian Defense Ministry stated that Turkey took over the leadership of all air operations on the Karabakh front from Azerbaijan.
Recall that on September 27, Azerbaijan began intensive shelling of settlements in Nagorno-Karabakh, including Stepanakert, and launched an offensive along the entire contact line in the Karabakh conflict zone.
Operations, which in Baku are called “counteroffensive”, are being conducted in the northern, eastern, and southeastern sectors of the front. Martial law and total mobilization have been declared in Armenia. Azerbaijan also introduced martial law and partial mobilization on its territory.
Source: Eadaily.com
رئيس أذربيجان: مقاتلات F-16 التركية لا تشارك في المعارك ضد أرمينيا
