Turkey: Senior lawmaker voices support for Azerbaijan

ANKARA

A senior Turkish ruling party lawmaker on Thursday voiced support for Azerbaijan over the Upper Karabakh issue.

"Whatever necessary will be done to bring Upper Karabakh under the rule of Azerbaijan," Ibrahim Aydemir, a Development and Justice (AK) Party deputy for the eastern Erzurum province, told reporters outside the parliament.

Aydemir criticized the international media for their attempt to fade out what happened in Ganja, Azerbaijan, where scores of civilians were killed in attacks of Armenian forces.

"They have murdered babies, they have also killed elders. They have demolished around 300 houses. However, the international media did not duly publish these incidents," Aydemir lamented. He thanked the Turkish media for highlighting the Upper Karabakh issue.

Since fresh clashes erupted on Sept. 27, Armenia has continued its attacks on civilians and Azerbaijani forces, even violating humanitarian cease-fire agreements.

In two missile attacks on Ganja, a major Azerbaijani city far from the front line, Armenia killed some two dozen civilians, including children, and injured many others.

On Oct. 15, Armenia targeted civilians at a cemetery in the western city of Tartar, killing four and injuring four others.

Over the past 10 days, Armenia has violated two humanitarian cease-fires in Upper Karabakh, or Nagorno-Karabakh, an internationally recognized territory of Azerbaijan.

- Upper Karabakh conflict

Relations between the two former Soviet republics have been tense since 1991, when the Armenian military occupied Upper Karabakh.

Four UN Security Council resolutions and two from the UN General Assembly, as well as international organizations, demand the "immediate, complete and unconditional withdrawal of the occupying forces" from the occupied Azerbaijani territory.

In total, about 20% of Azerbaijan's territory – including Nagorno-Karabakh and seven adjacent regions – has been under illegal Armenian occupation for nearly three decades.

The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) Minsk Group – co-chaired by France, Russia, and the US – was formed in 1992 to find a peaceful solution to the conflict, but to no avail. A cease-fire, however, was agreed to in 1994.

World powers including Russia, France and the US have called for a sustainable new cease-fire. Turkey, meanwhile, has supported Baku's right to self-defense and demanded the withdrawal of Armenia's occupying forces.