Azerbaijan says it will continue its aggression against Armenia if negotiations fail.
Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev said Sunday the country was ready to fight "to the end" if Armenia doesn't withdraw from the contested Nagorno-Karabakh region.
During a meeting with Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu in Azerbaijan's capital over the weekend, Aliyev said that Armenia must withdraw from seven surrounding regions in Nagorno-Karabakh. He said Armenia had "no basis" to request military assistance from Russia.
Turkey currently has a standing alliance with Azerbaijan while Russia has a security alliance with Armenia. Russia's foreign ministry said Saturday it was ready to provide "all assistance required" if the conflict were to extend to Armenia's territory. Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan had asked Russia to outline the extent of its support.
Aliyev told reporters he was willing to resolve the issue through negotiations but if Armenia doesn't agree to withdraw its forces from the region, Azerbaijan "will continue by any means to restore our territorial integrity and...we will go to the end."
Fighting in the disputed region is now entering a sixth week and both sides continue to blame each other for instigating unprovoked attacks. The hostilities have already resulted in the deaths of hundreds of soldiers and civilians.
Russia was the first to broker a cease fire - which was immediately broken. A second agreement brokered by Russia also failed. The U.S. brokered a third - which was also broken just hours after being signed.
This past weekend Armenia accused Azerbaijan of targeting civilians in overnight missile attacks. Azerbaijan denied the allegations and said Armenia was firing at its positions on the border.
The contested Nagorno-Karabakh region technically lies within Azerbaijan but it has been under the control of ethnic Armenian armed forces since a war ended in 1994. Hostilities erupted Sept. 27 - with both countries denying they fired the first shot.
