Nagorno-Karabakh ceasefire: Hopes diminish after Turkey reaffirms support for Azerbaijan

Turkeyhas reiterated its support for Azerbaijan as hopes of ending nearly a month of bloodshed in the mountain enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh were receding.

Speaking at a military drill on Wednesday, Turkish Defence Minister Hulusi Akar said Ankara is ready to give every support to Azerbaijan, amid new battles ahead of Washington talks.

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Turkeyhas said it will not hesitate to send soldiers and provide military support for Azerbaijan if such a request is made by its close ally.

Plans for USSecretary of State Mike Pompeo to meet the foreign ministers of Azerbaijan and Armenia on Friday raised hopes this week that the two former Soviet republics would agree to end their deadliest fighting since the mid-1990s.

But those hopes have been dented by the continued heavy fighting in and around Nagorno-Karabakh, a breakaway territory which is inside Azerbaijan but controlled by ethnic Armenians, and by angry rhetoric from both sides.

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said on Wednesday he could see no diplomatic resolution of the long-running conflict at this stage.

In a transcript of comments to the Nikkei newspaper published on Thursday, Azeri President Ilham Aliyev said the prospects of reaching a peace settlement were "very remote".

Reiterating Azerbaijan's main condition for ending the fighting, Aliyev demanded promises that his country will be handed back control of Nagorno-Karabakh, which broke away as the Soviet Union collapsed.

"So our main objective at these discussions will be to find out whether the Armenian leadership is ready to liberate our territories or not, and if ready, then when?" he said.

Armenians regard Nagorno-Karabakh as part of their historic homeland and accuse Azerbaijan of making a land grab in the recent fighting.

Aliyev said he would not rule out "cultural autonomy" for ethnic Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh but not say what he meant by this.