On Friday, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said he had seen reports that Turkey had sent Syrian fighters to take part in the ongoing armed conflict in the Nagorno-Karabakh region, between Azerbaijan and Armenia.
Although he did not talk about the details mentioned in the reports, Pompeo said he hopes that “the reports are not true or accurate.”
He noted that sending fighters to the Nagorno-Karabakh region to participate in the conflict “will bring more instability and fuel conflict and fighting instead of establishing peace.”
Pompeo called on Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to announce his reasons for these actions, stressing that the position of the United States is to reject foreign interference in ethnic conflicts.
“When ethnic-political tensions escalate, they are often internationalised. If allies provide ammunition and weapons, matters become more complicated and dangerous, and the chances of peace are reduced.”
During the conference, the top diplomat stated that Washington urged foreign parties, as in Libya, to stay away from the armed conflict. It also urged them to adopt dialogue and mutual ceasefire, which was conveyed by the ministry to the Azerbaijani, Armenian and Turkish leaders.
French President Emmanuel Macron said that he had information confirming the presence of Syrian fighters from groups he described as “militant”, “they left, via the city of Gaziantep (Turkish), to join the armed conflict in the Nagorno-Karabakh region.”
“This is a new and very dangerous reality, and it is changing the situation,” Macron said during his arrival to participate in the European Union leaders’ summit in Brussels, Thursday.
Several sources confirmed that Syrian fighters were sent from Tripoli, Libya, to Azerbaijan to take part in the fighting there.