Quoting a statement from Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan calling on Armenia to withdraw from what he called Azerbaijan’s lands, Biden urged U.S. President Donald J. Trump to “call the leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan immediately to de-escalate the situation.”
With casualties rapidly mounting in and around Nagorno-Karabakh, the Trump Administration needs to call the leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan immediately to de-escalate the situation. It must also demand others — like Turkey — stay out of this conflict, Biden said in a Tweet message.
On the third day of the conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan over provocations at the border near the Nagorno-Karabakh region that both countries have alleged to have been started by the other, an Azerbaijani air strike hit a bus in Armenia’s southeastern region of Vardenis on Tuesday, killing one civilian, the Armenian government said in a statement.
Earlier in the day, the Azerbaijani Defence Ministry said the Armenian army shelled Azerbaijan's northwestern Dashkesen region on the border between the two countries, state-run Anadolu news agency reported. Dashkesen is miles away from Nagorno-Karabakh. Armenia denied the statement.
The incidents risk escalating and expanding the already heavy fighting between the Azerbaijani military and Armenian separatists in the breakaway state of Nagorno-Karabakh into a greater conflict. Turkey and Azerbaijan are close political and military allies.
Armenian Foreign Minister Zohrab Mnatsakanyan said the Vardenis air strike was carried out by a Turkish-made drone. The act would “receive adequate military and political response”, he said on Twitter.
Armenia and the Karabakh government accuse Turkey of actively supporting Azerbaijani forces by deploying F-16 fighter jets to the country and Syrian mercenaries in the clashes.
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