Turkey to stand by Azerbaijan 'until doomsday': PM

Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davuto?lu has echoed President Recep Tayyip Erdo?an in displaying solidarity with Azerbaijan over Nagorno-Karabakh, pledging to stand by Baku "until doomsday."

"I express my condolences to all Azeris ... over the deaths of Azeri citizens resulting from Armenian attacks," Davuto?lu said April 5, noting that he had called Azerbaijani President ?lham Aliyev. 

Azerbaijan said 16 Azeri servicemen had been killed in fighting around the Armenian-backed region in two days, as a flare-up of the decades-old conflict showed no sign of abating. 

"The whole world needs to know that Turkey will stand shoulder-to-shoulder with Azerbaijan against Armenia's aggressiveness and occupation until doomsday," Davuto?lu promised while addressing a parliamentary group meeting of his ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP).

Azerbaijan and Armenia fought a war over the mountainous territory, whose population are mostly ethnic Armenian, in the early 1990s in which thousands were killed on both sides, and hundreds of thousands displaced. 

"Each martyr that Dear Azerbaijan has lost is our beloved one and our heart," Davuto?lu said. "We, as 78 million [people of Turkey], will continue standing by Azerbaijan until all territories of Azerbaijan which are under occupation are rescued."

Earlier this week, Erdo?an predicted that Azerbaijan would "one day" regain control of Nagorno-Karabakh.

"We are today standing side-by-side with our brothers in Azerbaijan. But this persecution will not continue forever. Karabakh will one day return to its original owner. It will be Azerbaijan's," Erdo?an said at a press conference on April 4.

Ankara has no diplomatic relations with Armenia due to the dispute over...