Turkey calls on Armenia to end hostility towards Azerbaijan after clashes

Defense chiefs of Turkey and Azerbaijan discussed the latest developments after the Armenian attack on Azerbaijan, according to Turkey’s National Defense Ministry on Sunday.

“Turkey will always stand by Azerbaijani Turks by all means in their struggle to protect their territorial integrity,” Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar told Zakir Hasanov during a phone conversation.

"The biggest obstacle to peace and stability in the Caucasus is the hostile stance of Armenia and it must immediately turn back from this hostility that will send the region into fire," Akar said on Sunday, adding that Ankara would support Baku with "all its resources".

Akar condemned the Armenian attacks on civilian settlements and wished God's mercy upon the martyred.

Border clashes broke out earlier in the day after Armenian forces targeted Azerbaijani civilian settlements and military positions. The number of casualties is not yet known.

Earlier in July, Armenian cease-fire violations martyred 12 Azerbaijani troops and wounded four others.

Relations between the two former Soviet nations have been tense since 1991 when Armenian military illegally occupied the Upper Karabakh, or Nagorno-Karabakh region, an internationally recognized territory of Azerbaijan.

Four UN Security Council and two UN General Assembly resolutions as well as decisions by many international organizations refer to this fact and demand the withdrawal of the occupational Armenian forces from Upper Karabakh and seven other occupied regions of Azerbaijan.