Turkish President Recep Erdogan said Ankara was closely monitoring tensions between Moscow and Baku and urging both sides to exercise restraint. He stressed that his country maintains deep diplomatic and strategic ties with both Russia and Azerbaijan, and expressed hope that recent events would not cause irreparable damage to these relations.

“We are closely monitoring tensions and urge both countries to exercise restraint,” Erdogan said.

The Turkish leader added that he discussed the issue with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev during a meeting on the sidelines of the ECO summit in Khankendi, noting that the latter “is not in favor of escalation.”

“Our priority will be to prevent a sharp escalation that would undermine the hard-won stability in the region, which has seen enough wars and conflicts. The Caucasus can no longer tolerate a new conflict. As Turkey, I believe that we will resolve this issue through diplomatic processes, taking the side of calm. This issue was included in our agenda during the meeting with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev. Mr. Ilham is taking a very cautious and prudent step. He is not in favor of persecution and escalation of this issue. I understood this from Ilham's statements," Erdogan said.

Recall that on June 27, as part of an operation by Russian security forces in Yekaterinburg, two ethnic Azerbaijanis were killed and about 50 people were detained. Six of them were sent to pretrial detention, many were tortured. A forensic examination in Azerbaijan established that the cause of death of the two Safarov brothers was post-traumatic shock caused by multiple rib fractures and other serious injuries. The Prosecutor General's Office of Azerbaijan opened a criminal case on the fact of torture and deliberate murder with particular cruelty of two citizens of the country and persons of Azerbaijani origin by Russian law enforcement officers.

On June 30, Azerbaijani police detained Igor Kartavykh, editor-in-chief of the Russian state agency Sputnik Azerbaijan, and editor-in-chief Yevgeny Belousov in Baku. They were accused of being FSB agents working illegally in Baku and arrested. In response, Russia detained a number of Azerbaijani businessmen and stripped ethnic Azerbaijanis of their citizenship without explanation, including Elshan Ibragimov, Chairman of the National Cultural Autonomy of Azerbaijanis in the Moscow Region.