As delivering a speech during an AK Party meeting in the central province of Kayseri on Saturday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said in his remarks: "Azerbaijan has been retaking its lands from Armenian occupiers as the border clashes over the Upper Karabakh region continued between the Baku and Yerevan sides."
"I had a telephone conversation with [Azerbaijan's president Ilham] Aliyev on Saturday morning," Turkish leaders said.
"Now, our Azerbaijani brothers have been clearing the occupied territories from Armenian forces as a part of the military operation to liberate Nagorno Karabakh," Erdoğan added.
Describing Turkey and Azerbaijan as "two states, one nation," Erdoğan said: "We'll continue to give all kinds of support to Azerbaijan in its rightful struggle to free the occupied territories from Armenian forces."
Since clashes erupted on Sept. 27, Armenia has repeatedly attacked Azerbaijani civilians and forces, even violating two humanitarian cease-fires in the past two weeks.
Relations between the two former Soviet republics have been tense since 1991, when the Armenian military occupied Upper Karabakh.
Four UN Security Council resolutions and two from the UN General Assembly, as well as international organizations, demand the withdrawal of Armenian forces from the occupied territory.
