Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu discussed the recent tensions in the Caucasus, which saw Armenia’s indiscriminate attacks against civilians in the contested Nagorno-Karabakh region with his Azerbaijani and German counterparts.
According to information from Anadolu Agency (AA), Çavuşoğlu discussed the recent situation in the territories, which are under illegal occupation by Armenia, with his Azerbaijani counterpart Jeyhun Bayramov.
The agency also reported that the top diplomat also held a phone call with his German counterpart Heiko Maas.
In the phone call, the ministers discussed the escalating tensions in the Nagorno-Karabakh region and Eastern Mediterranean.
Later in the day, the foreign minister and the ruling Justice and Development Party's (AK Party) Deputy Chair Numan Kurtulmuş visited the Azerbaijani Embassy in Ankara to have a meeting with Ambassador Khazar Ibrahim and other diplomats.
"The solution to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is Armenia’s withdrawal from occupied territories. Just as we all support Georgia's territorial integrity, we should support Azerbaijan in the face of illegal Armenian occupation of its territories," he said during a news conference after the meeting.
"Turkey will continue to support Azerbaijan and perform its duties given our countries represent one nation, two states. Turkey will continue to stand by Azerbaijan and act as a representative of Azerbaijan in countries in which Baku does not have diplomatic mission," Çavuşoğlu added.
Kurtulmuş also declared Turkey's full support to the brotherly nation.
"Any Armenian attack on an Azerbaijani village is equivalent to an attack on a Turkish village," he said.
As soon as the violations began, Ankara reiterated its support to Azerbaijan, with many officials, mainstream parties and the Turkish Foreign Ministry declaring unwavering backing to its brotherly Turkic nation.
Border clashes broke out early Sunday when Armenian forces targeted Azerbaijani civilian settlements and military positions, leading to casualties.
Relations between the two former Soviet nations have been tense since 1991 when the Armenian military occupied Nagorno-Karabakh, an internationally recognized territory of Azerbaijan.
Four United Nations Security Council and two U.N. General Assembly resolutions demand the withdrawal of the occupying forces.
The OSCE Minsk Group – co-chaired by France, Russia and the U.S. – was formed in 1992 to find a peaceful solution to the conflict, but to no avail. A cease-fire, however, was agreed upon in 1994.
The European Union, Russia and NATO, among others, have urged an immediate halt to clashes along the frontier.
