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Türkiye backs Azerbaijan after deadly attack by Armenian forces

Turkish Foreign Minister Cavusoglu offers condolences to Azerbaijan after three of its soldiers were killed during an attack by Armenian forces in the Lachin district of the East Zangezur.

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Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry said the Armenian "provocations", in the backdrop of calls from the international community for negotiations, show Armenia is "not interested in the peace process".

Türkiye has reaffirmed its support for Azerbaijan following an Armenian attack that killed three Azerbaijani soldiers.

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu offered condolences to his Azerbaijani counterpart Jeyhun Bayramov on Wednesday after the incident.

The Azerbaijani soldiers were killed on Tuesday during an attack by Armenian forces in the Lachin district of the East Zangezur region, the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry said in a statement.

"Units of the Armenian armed forces fired at the opposite positions of the Azerbaijani Army in the direction of Lachin district from their positions located in the direction of the Digh settlement of the Gorus region, using various calibre weapons," the statement said.

The statement said the Armenian side continued to fire at Azerbaijani positions in the region using mortars and large-caliber weapons and that retaliatory measures taken by Azerbaijani forces resulted in "a significant number of losses" on the opposite side.

Following the incident, Cavusoglu reiterated Türkiye's and the Turkish nation’s full support to Azerbaijan, according to diplomatic sources.

Relations between the two former Soviet republics of Armenia and Azerbaijan have been tense since 1991, when the Armenian military occupied Karabakh, a territory internationally recognised as part of Azerbaijan, and seven adjacent regions.

In the fall of 2020, Azerbaijan liberated several cities, villages and settlements from Armenian occupation, before over a month of fighting was halted with a Russian-brokered peace agreement.