YEREVAN (Combined Sources) — Armenia said on September 29 that a Turkish F-16 fighter jet entered its airspace from Azerbaijan and shot down an Armenian warplane during continuing hostilities in Nagorno-Karabakh.
The Armenian Defense Ministry said the incident occurred during Azerbaijan air and artillery strikes on military and civilian targets in Armenia’s Gegharkunik province west of Karabakh.
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According to the ministry spokeswoman, Shushan Stepanyan, Azerbaijan’s Su-25 warplanes and Turkish Bayraktar attack drones were engaged by Armenia air-defense units while carrying out the strikes in the morning.
Stepanyan said that a Su-25 plane from the Armenian Air Force flew to the area to support those units only to be shot down by a Turkish F-16 jet. The plane’s pilot was killed as a result, she said in a statement, adding that the incident occurred in Armenia’s airspace, 60 kilometers from the Azerbaijani border.
“Turkey is carrying out a direct aggression against Armenia,” another Armenian military official, Artsrun Hovannisyan, wrote on Facebook.
Ankara denied downing the Armenian jet. Azerbaijan’s Defense Ministry also dismissed the Armenian report.