Top Turkish, Russian diplomats discuss Armenian attack

ANKARA

Turkey’s Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu and his Russian counterpart spoke over the phone on Sunday.

Cavusoglu and Sergey Lavrov discussed Armenia's aggression against Azerbaijan, said Turkish diplomatic sources, who asked not to be named due to restrictions on speaking to the media.

According to a Russian Foreign Ministry statement: "The need for an early cease-fire and stabilization of the situation on the line of contact [between the countries] was stressed. Condolences were expressed to the families and friends of the victims."

Separately, Cavusoglu spoke with Azerbaijan’s Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov on the phone regarding the recent Azerbaijan-Armenia clashes.

Border clashes broke out early Sunday after Armenian forces opened fire, targeting Azerbaijani civilian settlements.

This 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 the Armenian military illegally occupied Upper Karabakh, Nagorno-Karabakh, 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 Armenia’s occupying forces from Upper Karabakh and seven other occupied regions of Azerbaijan.

* Writing by Seda Sevencan