Hakan Fidan Indirectly Acknowledges Turkish Military Participation in the 44-Day War

The Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan has indirectly acknowledged that Turkish military personnel participated in the 44-day war over Artsakh. According to TRT Haber, earlier, the country's President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan awarded Fidan, who led Turkey's National Intelligence Agency for 13 years, with a medal for his state service.

During his speech at the award ceremony, Fidan stated that he receives this medal in memory of his friends who lost their lives while carrying out Erdoğan's orders in Libya, Nagorno-Karabakh, Syria, and Iraq.

Turkish and Azerbaijani officials had not previously concealed Turkey's direct or indirect involvement in the 44-day war. For instance, in April of this year, former Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu stated that it would have been difficult for Azerbaijan to capture Nagorno-Karabakh without Turkish weapons. However, this marks the first time that the Turkish side has spoken about the deaths of its soldiers during the Artsakh military operations.