Armenia announced today that dozens of its soldiers were killed in the Nagorno Karabakh region, in the latest clashes with the Azeri forces that confirmed the downing of an Armenian drone.
Meanwhile, Turkey stressed that it will continue to provide various types of support to Azerbaijan.
Interfax news agency quoted the Defense Ministry in Karabakh as saying that the number of Armenian soldiers killed in the region increased by 36, bringing the total number to 963.
With the return of clashes today, the Azerbaijani army announced today that it had shot down the second Armenian drone during the confrontations in the region.
A statement issued by the Ministry of Defense in Azerbaijan said that the anti-aircraft guns of the army shot down an Armenian drone in Agdara province this Saturday afternoon.
The US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo met with the foreign ministers of Armenia and Azerbaijan separately on Friday.
In a new attempt to end the fighting raging about a month ago.
The collapse of two Russian-brokered ceasefire agreements undermined expectations of a swift end to the fighting, which broke out on the 27th of last month.
The President of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev, told the French newspaper "Le Figaro" that Azerbaijan was ready to sit at the negotiating table, but accused Armenia of being responsible for the continuation of the fighting.
The newspaper quoted him as saying, "We are ready to stop even today, but Armenia - unfortunately - is flagrantly violating the ceasefire. If they do not stop, we will continue until the end with the aim of liberating all occupied territories."
US President Donald Trump said there had been "good progress" in this regard, but did not provide details.
Erdogan supports and praises
For his part, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said today that his country will continue to provide various types of support to Azerbaijan in its struggle for what he called "the liberation of its lands from the Armenian occupation."
These statements came today in a speech during a conference of the ruling Justice and Development Party, in the state of Kayseri (center of the country).
Erdogan added that he spoke with his Azerbaijani counterpart Aliyev this morning, praising the "victories of the Azeri army in regaining its occupied lands."
On the French support for Armenia, the Turkish president said that France is generally behind the disasters and occupation in Azerbaijan, pointing out that Turkey "has stood and will continue to stand by its Azerbaijani brothers in their struggle to liberate their lands from the Armenian occupation."
On Friday, Erdogan expressed regret that the Minsk Trio (the United States, Russia and France) had not been able to make any progress in resolving the conflict.
The Minsk Group was established in 1992 to mediate between Azerbaijan and Armenia, to encourage them to peacefully resolve the issue of the disputed territory.