Aliyev Admits Presence of Turkish F-16s in Azerbaijan

He claimed in an interview with the CNN that the Turkish F-16s were deployed to Azerbaijan for joint military exercises. He claimed that the fighter jets are “on the ground” and aren’t used, however why these fighter jets of the Turkish air force remained stationed in Azerbaijan remains unanswered.

Baku was recently strongly denying the presence of the Turkish F-16s on its soil, with his advisor Hikmet Hajiyev attempting to mislead the international community by claiming to The Spectator in an interview that “we don’t have F-16s, neither on the ground nor in the air.”

However, after undeniable evidence from American news media surfaced about the presence of F-16s in Azeri airbases, seems like Aliyev had no other choice but to admit.

The revelation came as the New York Times Visual Investigations team reported on Wednesday that there were at least two F-16s deployed in Ganja International Airport, serving Azerbaijan’s second largest city, on October 3.

The source said the Turkish F-16s have been moved out of the airport after an Armenian rocket attack against Ganja on October 4. “Unfortunately the presence of F-16s didn’t stop the Armenians,” the source said, noting that shelling on Ganja have led to a number of civilian casualties.