Azerbaijan ally Turkey says it played no direct role in Karabakh operation

Turkey is using “all means”, including military training and modernisation, to support its close ally Azerbaijan but it did not play a direct role in Baku’s military operation in Nagorno-Karabakh.
Azerbaijan launched a lightning offensive to take back control of its breakaway Karabakh region on Tuesday. It later announced a ceasefire that would disarm the ethnic Armenian separatists who had held much of the region – regarded internationally as part of Azerbaijan – since the 1990s.
NATO ally Turkey publicly threw its support behind Azerbaijan’s “steps to preserve its territorial integrity” but it had been unclear whether Ankara played any active role in the 24-hour military operation.
A Turkish defence ministry official told reporters, “It was Azerbaijan army’s own operation, there was no direct involvement of Turkey.”.
The official said, “Turkey’s cooperation with Azerbaijan in military training and army modernisation has been underway for a long time. The Azerbaijani army’s success in the latest operation clearly shows the level they achieved.”
He also said a joint Turkish-Russian monitoring centre was still operating and was reporting on any ceasefire violations.