Monday, Armenia Condemns ‘Turkey’s Involvement’ In Karabakh Fighting Armenia - The Armenian Foreign Ministry building, Yerevan. Armenia accused Turkey on Monday of being directly involved in continuing hostilities along the Armenian-Azerbaijani “line of contact” around Nagorno-Karabakh. The Armenian Foreign Ministry said that through its “direct presence on the ground” Ankara is seeking to help Azerbaijan end the Karabakh conflict by force. “Turkish military specialists are fighting side by side with Azerbaijan, using Turkish-manufactured weapons, including UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicles) and warplanes,” the ministry charged in a statement. “According to credible sources, Turkey is recruiting and transporting foreign terrorist fighters to Azerbaijan,” it said, referring to recent reports, including by the London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, about the recruitment of pro-Turkish Syrian rebels mostly affiliated with jihadi groups. Azerbaijan has denied those reports. “The situation on the ground clearly indicates that the people of Artsakh (Karabakh) are fighting against the Turkish-Azerbaijani alliance. Turkey, which a century ago annihilated the Armenian people in their historical homeland and still justifies that crime, now supports Azerbaijan by all possible means to carry out the same genocidal acts in the South Caucasus,” added the statement. Ara Harutiunian, Karabakh’s president, likewise claimed on Sunday that Turkish F-16 fighter jets, helicopters and attack drones are attacking military and civilian targets in Karabakh. In recent months Ankara has stepped up its long-standing support for Azerbaijan in the Karabakh conflict. It promised greater military assistance to Baku following last July’s deadly skirmishes on the Armenia-Azerbaijan border. Turkish and Azerbaijani troops held joint exercises in various parts of Azerbaijan in August. The drills featured Turkish F-16 jets and combat helicopters. Azerbaijan -- Azeri President Ilham Aliyev receives prayer beads from his Turkish counterpart Tayyip Erdogan in Baku, February 25, 2020 Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan again blamed Armenia for the heavy fighting in Karabakh, which broke out on Sunday, and demanded an end to “Armenian occupation” of the disputed territory later on Monday. “The time has come for the crisis in the region that started with the occupation of Nagorno-Karabakh to be put to an end,” he said in a speech. Erdogan also lambasted the United States, Russia and France for failing to broker a solution to the Karabakh after more than two decades of Armenian-Azerbaijani peace talks mediated by them. “Now Azerbaijan must take matters into its own hands,” he said. The Armenian Foreign Ministry expressed confidence that the Azerbaijani “aggression” will end in failure. Yerevan says that the unusually deadly clashes in Karabakh resulted from a large-scale Azerbaijani offensive. Baku maintains, however, that its army went on a “counteroffensive” in response to Armenian shelling of Azerbaijani villages located close to the “line of contact.” Russia Vows To ‘Seek Peace’ In Karabakh • Armen Koloyan Sergei Naryshkin, Head of the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service Russia on Monday continued to press for an immediate end to large-scale hostilities in Nagorno-Karabakh and pledged to seek a peaceful solution to the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict “in every possible way.” “Unfortunately, there are casualties and the parties are using heavy weapons as well,” Sergei Naryshkin, the chief of Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service, told reporters in Moscow. “We see that this issue can be resolved only with political-diplomatic methods, and Russia will always seek peace in every possible way,” Naryshkin said, according to the RIA Novosti news agency. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov telephoned his Armenian and Azerbaijani counterparts hours after the outbreak of heavy fighting around Karabakh early on Sunday. He called for a quick end to the fighting involving thousands of troops, tanks, heavy artillery and attack drones. Russian President Vladimir Putin and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian also discussed the most serious escalation of the Karabakh conflict in years -- and possibly decades -- in a phone call. Putin’s spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, urged the conflicting parties on Monday to display “maximum restraint” and avoid a “further undesirable escalation of the situation.” The TASS news agency quoted him as saying that Putin will also speak with Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev “if need be.” Russia, which has close political, military and economic ties with Armenia, has not blamed any of the parties for the hostilities. The United States and the European Union have reacted to the Karabakh fighting in a similar fashion. U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Stephen Biegun also spoke with Armenia’s and Azerbaijan’s foreign ministers by phone. According to the U.S. State Department, he urged both sides to “cease hostilities immediately” and avoid “actions that further raise tensions on the ground.” U.S. President Donald Trump said later on Sunday that Washington is closely monitoring the developments in the Karabakh conflict zone. “We have a lot of good relationships in that area,” Trump told reporters. “We’ll see if we can stop [the hostilities.]” Deadly Fighting Rages On In Karabakh Nagorno-Karabakh -- A screenshot of Karabakh Armenian army video of fighting with Azerbaijani forces, September 27, 2020. Heavy fighting between Armenian and Azerbaijani forces continued in Nagorno-Karabakh for the second consecutive day on Monday despite international calls for an immediate ceasefire. Karabakh’s Armenian-backed army reported “intensive” overnight hostilities at various sections of the Armenian-Azerbaijani “line of contact” around Karabakh. It said its troops recaptured “a number of positions” that were seized by Azerbaijani forces following the outbreak of the hostilities early on Sunday. According to a spokeswoman for Armenia’s Defense Ministry, Shushan Stepanian, the Azerbaijani army “resumed offensive operations” there on Monday morning, using tanks and heavy artillery. “Armenian units are confidently dealing with Azerbaijani army attacks,” she wrote on Facebook. The Azerbaijani Defense Ministry said, meanwhile, that its frontline troops are “continuing their counteroffensive” after seizing several hills near a village in northeastern Karabakh. Azerbaijani news agencies also reported that the ministry accused the Armenian side of shelling the nearby Azerbaijani town of Terter and threatened to take “adequate retaliatory measures.” The Karabakh Armenian military said that 31 of its soldiers died and more than 100 others were wounded in Sunday’s clashes. Baku did not release any casualty numbers as of Monday morning. Stepanian said that “several dozen” bodies of Azerbaijani soldiers killed in action are lying on the recaptured Karabakh Armenian positions. The conflicting parties blame each for the worst flare-up of violence in the Karabakh conflict zone since 2016. The Armenian side says that it is the result of a large-scale Azerbaijani offensive. Baku insists, however, that its army went on a “counteroffensive” in response to Armenian shelling of Azerbaijani villages located close to the “line of contact.” Russia, the United States, the European Union as well as Iran on Sunday expressed serious concern over the escalation and called for an immediate end to the hostilities. Top U.S. and Russian diplomats spoke with the Armenian and Azerbaijani foreign ministers by phone in a bid to ease the tensions. U.S. ‘Alarmed’ By Karabakh Hostilities U.S. -- U.S. State Department spokesperson Morgan Ortagus stands at the lectern during a press conference at the U.S. Department of State in Washington, June 10, 2019 The United States on Sunday called for an immediate halt to deadly hostilities in Nagorno-Karabakh and warned “external parties” against participating in them. “The United States condemns in the strongest terms this escalation of violence,” Morgan Ortagus, the spokeswoman for the U.S. State Department, said in a statement. She said U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Stephen Biegun phoned Armenia’s and Azerbaijan’s foreign ministers “to urge both sides to cease hostilities immediately, to use the existing direct communication links between them to avoid further escalation, and to avoid unhelpful rhetoric and actions that further raise tensions on the ground.” “The United States believes participation in the escalating violence by external parties would be deeply unhelpful and only exacerbate regional tensions,” added Ortagus. It was not clear if she referred to Turkey, which has stepped up diplomatic and military support for Azerbaijan in recent months. Ortagus also urged Baku and Yerevan to “return to substantive negotiations as soon as possible.” “As a Co-Chair of the OSCE Minsk Group, the United States remains committed to helping the sides achieve a peaceful and sustainable settlement to the conflict,” she said. The two other Minsk Group co-chairs, Russia and France, also voiced concern at the most large-scale fighting in the Karabakh conflict zone in years. Similar statements were issued by the European Union. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov spoke with his Armenian and Azerbaijani counterparts by phone earlier on Sunday. Reprinted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL Copyright (c) 2020 Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty, Inc. 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.