Armenian and Azeri forces have become involved in new clashes today, dampening hopes of ending hostilities that have raged for nearly three weeks over the Nagorno-Karabakh enclave, and US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has blamed Turkey for the resurgence of hostilities by furnishing the Azeris with weapons.
Mike Pompeo said Turkey exacerbated the conflict by providing resources to Azerbaijan. A diplomatic solution is needed rather than “third party countries coming in to lend their firepower to what is already a powder keg of a situation,” he said in an interview with WSB Atlanta television.
It is the worst outbreak of violence in the South Caucasus since Armenia and Azerbaijan became involved in a war for the enclave in the 1990s. The conflict is in danger of leading to a humanitarian catastrophe, especially if Russia and Turkey are involved.
Nagorno-Karabakh is internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan but is inhabited and ruled by Armenians.
Turkey has tripled its military exports to its close ally, Azerbaijan.
Source: ANA-MPA