BAKU: Turkey on Tuesday urged the world to stand by Azerbaijan in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and questioned the utility of a cease-fire in the ethnic Armenian separatist region.
“To put these two countries on equal footing means awarding the occupier. The world must be on the side of those who are right, namely on the side of Azerbaijan,” Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said on a visit to Baku, adding: “There are calls for a cease-fire, but what will happen next?”
The visit comes a day after Russia, the United States and France called on Armenia and Azerbaijan to agree an “unconditional cease-fire” after the neighbors began shelling major cities in an escalation of their conflict over the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region.
Cavusoglu said the latest call for a cease-fire was “no different” from the previous ones.
“Ok, let the cease-fire take place but what will be the result? Can you (the world) tell Armenia to immediately withdraw from Azerbaijani territories or can you produce solutions for its withdrawal? No,” he said.
“They have been making the same call for nearly 30 years.”
Turkey urges world to stand by Azerbaijan in Karabakh
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Turkey urges world to stand by Azerbaijan in Karabakh
- ‘The world must be on the side of those who are right, namely on the side of Azerbaijan’
US designates Afghanistan as ‘state sponsor of wrongful detention’
- “The Taliban continues to use terrorist tactics, kidnapping individuals for ransom or to seek policy concessions,” Rubio says
WASHINGTON, United States: US Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced Monday he has designated Afghanistan as a “State Sponsor of Wrongful Detention,” demanding Taliban authorities release two Americans and commit to ending its “hostage diplomacy.”
The move comes just over a week after Iran became the first country added to Washington’s new “wrongful detention” blacklist.
President Donald Trump in September signed an executive order that created the blacklist, similar to designations by the United States on terrorism.
“The Taliban continues to use terrorist tactics, kidnapping individuals for ransom or to seek policy concessions,” Rubio said in a statement.
He said it was “not safe for Americans to travel to Afghanistan because the Taliban continues to unjustly detain our fellow Americans and other foreign nationals.”
“The Taliban needs to release Dennis Coyle, Mahmoud Habibi, and all Americans unjustly detained in Afghanistan now and commit to cease the practice of hostage diplomacy forever,” he added.
Habibi, an Afghan-American businessman, previously served as Afghanistan’s director of civil aviation.
He was arrested in August 2022 in Kabul along with dozens of other employees of his telecommunications company, according to US authorities.
The State Department has issued a reward of $5 million for information leading to Habibi’s return.
Coyle is an academic from Colorado who worked for two decades in Afghanistan before being detained in January 2025, according to the James Foley Foundation.
