Nagorno-Karabakh: Armenia accuses Turkey of shooting down a fighter jet - Ankara denies

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Nikol Pashinyan, Prime Minister of Armenia

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Tigran Mehrabyan / dpa

In the conflict over the Caucasus region of Nagorno-Karabakh, Armenia accuses Turkey of having shot down a Sukhoi-25 fighter jet.

The spokeswoman for the Armenian Defense Ministry in Yerevan said the pilot was killed.

A Turkish F-16 fighter plane shot down the machine on Tuesday morning with help from Azerbaijan.

But there was no confirmation of this.

Azerbaijan has so far stated that it has not received any military support from neighboring Turkey and that it does not own an F-16 fighter itself.

The military in Azerbaijan immediately denied the information and described the allegations as a lie.

The communications director of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Fahrettin Altun, also said that these were "cheap propaganda tricks".

The claims were definitely not true.

Armenia reports 114 deaths since Sunday

The fighting between Armenia and Azerbaijan has been going on since Sunday.

There were numerous dead and injured on both sides.

In the Nagorno-Karabakh region itself, the death toll rose to 114 on Tuesday, including dozens of soldiers and many civilians, the Armenian authorities said.

The exact number of victims from Azerbaijan was initially not known.

But there were ten civilians dead, it was said from the capital Baku.

Nagorno-Karabakh, which is controlled by Armenia, is part of the Islamic Azerbaijan under international law.

In a war following the collapse of the Soviet Union, Azerbaijan lost control of the area.

It is now inhabited by Christian Karabakh Armenians.

The Nagorno-Karabakh regional government is not internationally recognized.

A ceasefire has existed since 1994 and was repeatedly broken, most recently in July.

The completely impoverished Armenia relies on Russia as a protective power, which has stationed thousands of soldiers and weapons there.

Azerbaijan, which is rich in oil, gas and armed with military equipment, has Turkey as an ally brother state.

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev accused the international community of being "too patient" with Armenia.

For 30 years, Armenia has not responded to United Nations resolutions to withdraw from the occupied territory of Azerbaijan, he said.

Turkey had already backed Azerbaijan with clear words and blamed Armenia for the escalation.

Turkey stands by Azerbaijan's side "with all means and with all its heart", President Erdogan emphasized.

Its communications director Fahrettin Altun wrote on Twitter on Tuesday: "As Turkey, all our efforts and efforts will result in the fraternization of Azerbaijan recapturing its occupied territories and protecting its rights in international territory."

Russia sharply criticizes Turkey, Merkel calls for negotiations

Russia criticized Turkey's behavior.

The Kremlin called on Ankara to act on Azerbaijan and move the country to a ceasefire and negotiations.

Previous declarations of support from the Turkish side for Azerbaijan had only added fuel to the fire, said Kremlin spokesman Dmitri Peskov.

President Vladimir Putin emphasized during a telephone conversation with the Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan that both sides urgently need to stop the fire and take measures to de-escalate the crisis.

He was seriously concerned about the ongoing fighting, it said.

Chancellor Merkel also spoke to Pashinyan and Aliyev.

The Chancellor made it clear that a ceasefire and negotiations were urgent, said government spokesman Steffen Seibert.

The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) could be the basis for this.

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mes / dpa / AFP