MOSCOW. Oct 19 (Interfax) - The new outbreak of violence in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict zone was deliberately planned and provoked by Turkey, Kommersant said with reference to military-diplomatic sources.
"Over the past several months, Ankara has actively provoked Baku into starting military activities, promising it comprehensive political-diplomatic, intelligence, and military-technical support," Kommersant wrote citing its sources.
Following the Turkish-Azerbaijani exercise in Azerbaijan in July and August, a major unit of Turkish forces stayed in Azerbaijan to play a coordinating and directing role in planning an offensive operation in Nagorno-Karabakh, it said.
"There are 600 service members, including a battalion tactical group of 200 people, 50 instructors in Nakhchivan, 90 military advisors in Baku (ensured communication during the fighting in the brigade-corps-general staff chain), 120 flying and technical personnel at the Gabala airbase, 20 drone operators at the Dallar airbase, 50 instructors at the Yevlakh airfield, 50 instructors in the 4th Army Corps in Perekeshkul, and 20 people at the naval base and in the Heydar Aliyev Naval Academy in Baku," Kommersant said.
According to the newspaper's sources, this group included 18 armored fighting vehicles, one multiple rocket launcher, ten automobiles, and up to 34 aircraft (including six planes, eight helicopters, and up to 20 drones) used for military reconnaissance operations both over Nagorno-Karabakh and Armenia, it said.
Citing intelligence provided by its sources, Kommersant said the number of flights carried out by Turkish military transport planes to Azerbaijan, primarily via Georgia, dramatically increased in September and October. These planes delivered personnel, ammunition, and medicines.
After the fighting was already ongoing, Turkish Land Forces Commander Umit Dundar and Defense Minister Hulusi Akar arrived in Azerbaijan on September 28-30 to join the Turkish military advisors, who had arrived there before.
"They had general oversight of the operation in the Karabakh theater on the ground," sources told Kommersant.
"Turkish representatives have recruited mercenaries for joining the combat activities in Nagorno-Karabakh on the side of Azerbaijan from Islamic groups loyal to Ankara and fighting in Syria and Libya. The functioning of logistic chains of transporting mercenaries is supposedly controlled by Turkey's National Intelligence Organization, with support from the Defense Ministry's forces and resources," Kommersant said citing its sources.
Intensive fighting between Armenian and Azerbaijani military forces started in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict zone on September 27. The parties have sustained significant losses in manpower and equipment. Numerous civilians have also been reportedly killed on both sides. Armenia and Azerbaijan agreed on a ceasefire on October 10, but the fighting is still continuing.
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev on Friday denied that any foreign units are fighting for Azerbaijan.
"In an interview with a Russian agency yesterday, the prime minister of Armenia, Nikol Pashinyan, alleged that soldiers from Turkey, Pakistan, Syria and Libya were fighting alongside the Azerbaijanis. This is an absolute lie. This lie is easy to expose," Aliyev said in an interview with the Turkish television channel A Haber.
United States Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Thursday that Turkey "stepped in and provided resources to Azerbaijan, increasing the risk, increasing the firepower" already taking place in the conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh.