Erdoğan Taking Turkey in a Dangerous Direction

Dr. Munr Kazmir
6 min readOct 6, 2020

Turkish President Tayyip Erdoğan is building a legacy of bloody conflicts, extreme ideology, and a closer relationship with Russia.

Vladimir Putin met with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Istanbul. January 8, 2020. (photo: Russian Presidential Executive Office)

Heavy fighting broke out Sunday in a conflict over the long-disputed Azerbaijan region, killing dozens and injuring hundreds of soldiers and civilians. How the fighting began remains unclear. Both Armenia and Azerbaijan blame each other.

Ganja, Azerbaijan’s second largest city, and the Armenian-controlled capital of Nagorno-Karabakh, have been under attack from rockets, artillery and drone strikes.

On Monday, Nagorno-Karabakh officials said Azeri forces launched rocket strikes against the city of Stepanakert. Azerbaijan officials said Armenia fired missiles at several towns outside the breakaway area.

The Armenian government released a statement on Sunday saying that residential areas in Nagorno-Karabakh were being targeted by Azerbaijan. Azerbaijan acknowledged that it had been using Turkish-produced armed drones against Armenian targets in Nagorno-Karabakh.

“Thanks to advanced Turkish drones owned by the Azerbaijan military, our casualties on the front shrunk,” said Azerbaijani President Ilhan Aliyev in an interview with Turkish news channel TRT Haber. “These drones show Turkey’s strength. It also empowers us.”

“To establish a ceasefire, that is the first priority at the moment. … We want to re-establish a ceasefire to cease hostilities,” Armenian Foreign Minister Zohrab Mnatsakanyan told Fox News.

On Thursday, U.S. Congressional lawmakers introduced a bipartisan resolution condemning Azerbaijan for the outbreak of violence against Armenia in the contested area Nagorno-Karabakh, and calling out Turkey for interfering in the conflict.

The measure, H.RES.1165, sponsored by Rep. Jackie Speier (D-CA) and cosponsored by 37 other members of the bipartisan Congressional Armenian Caucus, condemns Azerbaijan’s military operation in Nagorno-Karabakh and denounces Turkish interference.

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