Satellite imagery uncovered by private intelligence company showed F-16 aircraft at Ganja airport near the disputed region • Baku denies any Turkish involvement
Turkish F-18 fighter jet fighter // Photo: AP
Embarrassment for Baku: Aerial documentation released today (Wednesday) by the civilian intelligence company Plantlabs revealed Turkish fighter jets at the city of Ganja in Azerbaijan, evidence of a Turkish presence that the Azeri government has so far denied.
The person who provided the diagnosis was Christian Travert, the digital information analyst for the New York Times, and one of the most reliable sources for air photography analysis in the press today.
According to Treibert, the wing structure and size of the fighter jets are very similar to the American F-16, the main fighter jet of the Norwegian Air Force.
Alongside the two cold planes, a C-235 transport aircraft, a twin-engine aircraft made in the United States, also operated by the Turkish Air Force, was also documented.
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Tribert argued that the planes may have been at the airport since a joint exercise the Azeri Air Force conducted with the Turkish Air Force in July.
Last week, the Armenians claimed that two US Air Force fighter jets had been shot down by Turkish fighter jets taking off from the air force base in Ganja, Baku denied the report and claimed that there were no Turkish fighter jets in their territory.
There are at least two F-16s at Ganja International Airport in Azerbaijan, our analysis of an Oct.
3 @planetlabs satellite image shows.
The fighter jets are likely operated by the Turkish Air Force, alongside a possible CN-235 cargo aircraft.
Here's a short thread why.
pic.twitter.com/de1XsmXXZr
- Christiaan Triebert (@trbrtc) October 7, 2020
The embarrassing warning comes precisely when the Azeris mark significant achievements in the fighting against the Amarinas in the Nagorno-Karabakh region, in which they occupied significant territories from the separatist hands of the Armenians in the disputed region.
Earlier in the day, Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev announced that his country would return to negotiations with Armenia only after it had exhausted military action and would sabotage the country.
The developments in the fighting come along with a growing number of casualties, many of them civilians.
Artillery and missiles were fired by the Azerbaijani army at the capital of the Nagorno-Karabakh region of Stepankart and media outlets in the region reported that there were several wounded and dead.
The fighting in the Nagorno-Karabakh region broke out about a week and a half ago in an Azerbaijani attack on the Armenian forces in Nagorno-Karabakh, an attack that, according to Baku, aimed to retake territories occupied by the Armenians in the Nagorno-Karabakh war in the 1990s.