Iran criticizes Turkey’s role in Nagorno-Karabakh conflict

Al-Monitor Staff

Oct 6, 2020

A view of the city from the main hospital on Sept. 29, 2020, in Stepanakert, Nagorno-Karabakh. Heavy fighting has taken place since Sunday morning in the territory, with both sides reporting military and civilian casualties in perhaps the worst violence since 2016. Since signing a cease-fire in a war with Azerbaijan in 1994, Nagorno-Karabakh, officially part of Azerbaijan, has functioned as a self-declared independent republic and de facto part of Armenia, with hostilities along the line of contact between Nagorno-Karabakh and Azerbaijan occasionally flaring up and causing casualties. — Brendan Hoffman/Getty Images

With no immediate end in sight to the deadly war between Azerbaijan and Armenia in the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh, neighboring Iran is increasingly concerned over insecurity near borders it shares with the two warring sides.

Ali Akbar Velayati, the international affairs adviser to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has specifically questioned Turkey’s role in the conflict and its siding with Azerbaijan. In an interview with ultra-conservative newspaper Kayhan, Velayati expressed surprise at Ankara’s “insistence” on “the protraction of this war.” Velayati urged the “friendly neighbor,” Turkey, to stop “adding fuel to the fire” and push for a peaceful end to the flare-ups.