The war between Armenia and Azerbaijan shows no sign of stopping as it continues for the tenth day on Tuesday. The dispute over the Nagorno-Karabakh has taken an interesting turn as Syrian President Bashar al-Assad accused Turkish counterpart Tayyip Erdogan of being the main instigator.
In an interview published on Tuesday that is likely to exacerbate international frictions over the clashes in the South Caucasus region, Assad also said militants from Syria were being deployed to the conflict area.
However, Turkey has denied any involvement in the fighting over the Nagorno-Karabakh region. The region is a mountain enclave that belongs to Azerbaijan under international law but is governed by ethnic Armenians.
"He (Erdogan) ... was the main instigator and the initiator of the recent conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh between Azerbaijan and Armenia," Assad told Russian news agency RIA.
Assad supported the allegations made by French President Emmanuel Macron that Turkey has sent Syrian jihadists to exacerbate the conflict. However, Assad failed to deliver any concrete evidence for his allegation.
Ankara did not immediately respond but has described similar accusations as part of attempts by Armenia to create "dark propaganda" about Turkey.
More than 250 people have been reported killed - and many more are feared dead - in clashes that have been fought with artillery, drones and tanks. The sides have also posted footage of devastated and burning buildings, and people taking cover during heavy bombardments. Azerbaijan says Azeri cities outside Nagorno-Karabakh have been struck, and Armenia has accused Azerbaijan of targeting densely populated areas. Both deny targeting civilians.
This war is going on over a mountainous area called Nagorno-Karabakh. Azerbaijan claims that the area is its own, although the region has been occupied by Armenia since the 1992 war. Historically, this region has been dominated by separatist organizations. This led to several decades of ethnic conflicts. This dispute between the two countries is several decades old.
From the early 1980s to 1992, there was a war between the two countries over the region. During that time more than 30 thousand people were killed and more than one million people were displaced. Even after the ceasefire in 1994, there were frequent reports of violence. Both these countries agreed to a ceasefire but never consented to a peace agreement.
At the time when the referendum was held in Nagorno-Karabakh, there was fierce violence on both sides and millions of people were killed. The situation worsened when the local administration of the region expressed its intention to join Armenia. This was done because the region is an ethnic Armenian-dominated region. By 1992, the situation worsened and millions of people were displaced.
If this war lasts for a long time, the economies of many countries can be severely affected. This is because gas and oil pipelines pass through this area. These are the pipelines through which oil is supplied to Russia and Turkey. This mainly includes the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline, the Western Route Export oil pipeline, the Trans Anatolian gas pipeline, and the South Caucasus gas pipeline.
(Reuter inputs)
