Erdogan "hopes"Azerbaijan will continue Karabakh offensive

PanARMENIAN.Net - Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has urged Baku to continue to pursue its offensive in Nagorno-Karabakh, Sputnik reports.

"I hope [Azerbaijan] will keep fighting," Erdogan said in an address broadcast on Twitter on Friday, October 2.

The Turkish president noted that Turkey supports "friendly and fraternal Azerbaijan in all possible ways," and would continue to do so in the future.

Earlier, in an interview with the Globe and Mail, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said that Turkey's exit from the southern Caucasus would be a necessary condition for peace in Nagorno-Karabakh.

Pashinyan added that it was now up to Turkey's NATO allies to explain why Ankara is involved in the Karabakh conflict.

Azerbaijan launched a large-scale offensive against Karabakh (Artsakh) in the morning of September 27, shelling Armenian positions and civilian settlements with large caliber weapons and rocket systems. Armenia and Karabakh have introduced martial law and total mobilization. The Armenian side has reported deaths and injuries both among the civilian population and the military. international and local journalists too have been injured in Azeri shelling of civilian settlements.