SYDNEY: The Armenian-Australian community has expressed serious alarm after a major escalation in Azerbaijan's attack on the self-determined Republic of Artsakh, when Turkey directly entered the conflict by flying F-16 jets into the sovereign airspace of the Republic of Armenia and shooting down a pilot in command of a Su-25 providing air support for ground forces repelling Baku's relentless fire.

According to Armenia's Ministry of Defence: "F-16 fighters of the Turkish Air Force took off from the Ganja airport from the Republic of Azerbaijan and ensured the delivery of bombing and missile strikes against settlements and ground units of the Armenian Armed Forces."

"During this period, the air defence units of the Armenian Air Force carried out SAM missile fire. While the F-16 was performing a combat mission during anti-aircraft fire and the ensuing air battles, the Turkish fire shot down a Su-25 fighter of the Armenian Air Force in the airspace of the Republic of Armenia."

The peak Armenian-Australian public affairs body, the Armenian National Committee of Australia (ANC-AU) condemned the attack, saying it resulted in "another sleepless night" for many of the 50,000-strong community.

"This major escalation makes official that Turkey, who denies the Armenian Genocide, has taken its opportunity of an attack waged against the indigenous Armenians of Nagorno Karabakh by its twin dictatorship of Azerbaijan, to wreak greater havoc among Armenian citizens and the military of both Armenia and Artsakh," said ANC-AU Executive Director, Haig Kayserian.

"Turkey's belligerence, like that of Azerbaijan's, will only stop when the international community calls it out for what it is. Azerbaijan's attacks are nothing but an offensive to invade indigenous Armenian lands and Turkey's involvement is a resumption of its neo-Ottoman expansionist policy that we've witnessed in Cyprus, the Mediterranean, Syria and Libya."


Pic: Turkey-backed mercenaries on their way from Syria to Azerbaijan.

Kayserian said the Armenian-Australian community was already "deeply troubled" by the provocative role Turkey has been playing since before Azerbaijan's launched offensive along its entire border with Artsakh, sighting Ankara's deployment of jihadist mercenaries to support Baku's attempted invasion. 

According to an interview with Reuters, two fighters from the Turkish-backed mercenary groups previously stationed in Turkish-controlled areas of northern Syria declared that they were deploying to Azerbaijan in coordination with Ankara. Both men said they had been told by their Syrian brigade commanders they would earn around US$1,500 a month. 

Signs of Turkey's ambition were further reinforced and confirmed by The Guardian who, when speaking to three men living in the last rebel-controlled corner of Syria, confirmed that they expect to travel over the border to Turkey before being flown to Azerbaijan. 

"This is not the first time that Turkey has utilised jihadist mercenaries to conduct aggressive campaigns to promote their pan-Turkic goals and destabilise the region," Kayserian said. "These terrorists are being promised cash and more Christian bloodshed."

In early 2020, the international community condemned Turkey's unilateral military operations in northeastern Syria, particularly since it was discovered that jihadist mercenaries were being utilised against Kurdish-led forces who had been significant allies to the United States and its allies in the region. 

Since December, Ankara has also facilitated the movement of thousands of Syria-based jihadists to Libya as mercenaries and most recently stated that they will use "all means necessary" to achieve their goals. 

Mustafa Sejari, a senior Syrian militant, confirmed that their "alliance with (Turkey) takes different forms and is truly a common fate”. He said: “I don’t rule out at all Turkey becoming a strategic choice for Syrian youths.”

This echoes the "One Nation, Two States" motto of Azerbaijan and Turkey, who have on several occasions conducted so-called joint military drills with the aim of intimidating Armenians. 

"Azerbaijan and Turkey carefully planned and coordinated their Armenophobic attack on Armenians in Artsakh, and now it has reached Armenia-proper," said ANC-AU Executive Director Haig Kayserian.

"As Armenian-Australians, our thoughts are with the people of Artsakh and Armenia currently defending the countries' borders against this Turkish-Azerbaijani escalation, and we stand with the Armenians of both Republics in their continued fight for the right to peace and self-determination."