Russia, not Turkey, taking sides in Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, says Erdo?an

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdo?an on April 6 accused Russia of siding with Armenia in the conflict with Azerbaijan over the disputed territory of Nagorno-Karabakh, saying Moscow was meddling as it had in Ukraine and Syria.

Erdo?an also accused Armenia of not sticking to a truce with Turkey's ally Azerbaijan in the territory.

"I hope the steps taken by Azerbaijan to end fighting will be imitated by Armenia, but this is not the case right now," said Erdogan about the territory, which was captured from Azerbaijan by Armenian separatists in an early 1990s war.

Erdo?an earlier expressed his support for Azerbaijan and declared that "Karabakh will one day return to its original owner."

"Russia says that Turkey is taking sides. If we are looking for someone who is taking sides, it is Russia," Erdo?an said.

"Russia likes taking sides; it has done so in Ukraine, Georgia and today in Syria," he added.

Russia stands accused of fuelling separatist tensions and wars in both eastern Ukraine and the Georgian breakaway regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia.

It is also accused of siding with the Syrian government by targeting opposition forces with air strikes rather than the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).

"You say you are in Syria at the invitation of the regime. You are not obliged to go there. If you do, take the side of the oppressed, not the oppressor," said Erdo?an.

Russia has sought to portray itself as an honest broker in the conflict and Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev is set to travel to both Yerevan and Baku in the coming days.

But Russia has close military ties with Armenia, which hosts a Russian base in Gyumri and is also tied to Moscow through the...