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Turkey accused of deploying jihadists from Syria to Azerbaijan as World Peace Council calls for immediate ceasefire

THE World Peace Council has called for an immediate ceasefire following a second day of fighting between Armenia and Azerbaijan.

And Iranian peace campaigners said that Turkey had reportedly transferred jihadists from Syria to fight for Azerbaijan in the conflict, echoing its intervention in the Libyan civil war.

The council said that peace campaigners in both countries needed to mobilise to counter “war hysteria” over the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh, a territory recognised internationally as part of Azerbaijan but self-governed as the Armenian-majority Republic of Artsakh since the early 1990s.

Dozens have been reported killed and wounded since clashes broke out at the weekend, with Armenia and Azerbaijan disputing each others’ claims. 

Azerbaijan has reported that it has “destroyed” over 550 Armenian troops and said Armenia was shelling the Azeri town of Tartar. Officials in Nagorno-Karabakh said 58 of their soldiers had been killed. The Armenian Defence Ministry said it had destroyed 10 Azerbaijani tanks and claimed that “all offensives of the Azerbaijani armed forces were successfully suppressed, the enemy was thrown back.”

Association for Defence of Peace, Solidarity & Democracy-Iran convener Payam Solhtalab condemned Turkey’s intervention in the conflict in support of Azerbaijan.

“Turkey, a member of Nato, has territorial ambitions in the region which would be detrimental to regional stability and world peace,” he said, expressing “concern” at Turkey’s reported deployment of jihadists it had sponsored in the war to overthrow the Bashar al-Assad government in Syria. Turkey has vocally backed Azerbaijan since fighting broke out, while Russia, which has close ties to Armenia, says it is seeking to defuse tensions.

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