Turkey warns Armenia not to play with fire after Azerbaijani soldier's killing
Protesters wave flags of Azerbaijan during a demonstration against Armenian aggression in Istanbul, Turkey, July 2020. (DHA Photo)


Turkey's National Defense Ministry on Monday warned Armenia against playing with fire after an Azerbaijani soldier was killed in a cross-border attack early Monday.

"Armenia, which unlawfully occupied Nagorno-Karabakh, now violated the cease-fire in the Tovuz region and killed a heroic Azerbaijani soldier," the ministry said on Twitter.

The Defense Ministry wished God's mercy upon the fallen soldier and conveyed condolences to the brotherly country of Azerbaijan.

Turkey's Foreign Ministry in a tweet also shared support for Azerbaijan.

Since 1991, the Armenian military has illegally occupied the Nagorno-Karabakh region, an internationally recognized territory of Azerbaijan.

Four United Nations Security Council and two U.N. 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 Nagorno-Karabakh and seven other occupied regions of Azerbaijan.

The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Minsk Group – co-chaired by France, Russia and the U.S. – was formed to find a peaceful solution to the conflict, but has yet to obtain any results.