4/15/93 1242  Turkey sends light weapons as aid to Azerbaijan

By SEVA ULMAN
   
ANKARA, Turkey (UPI) -- Turkey is arming Azerbaijan with light weapons to help
it fight Armenian forces in the struggle for the Nagorno- Karabakh enclave, 
the newspaper Hurriyet said Thursday.

Deputy Prime Minister Erdal Inonu told reporters in Ankara that Turkey was
responding positively to a request from Azerbaijan for assistance.

"We are giving a positive response to all requests" from Azerbaijan, "within
the limits of our capabilities," he said.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Vural Valkan declined to elaborate on the nature
of the aid being sent to Azerbaijan, but said they were within the framework 
of the Council for Security and Cooperation in Europe.

Hurriyet, published in Istanbul, said Turkey was sending light weapons to
Azerbaijan, including rockets, rocket launchers and ammunition.

Ankara began sending the hardware after a visit to Turkey last week by a
high-ranking Azerbaijani official. Turkey has however ruled out, for the second
time in one week, that it would intervene militarily in Azerbaijan.

Wednesday, Inonu told reporters Ankara would not allow Azerbaijan to suffer
defeat at the hands of the Armenians. "We feel ourselves bound to help
Azerbaijan, but I am not in a position right now to tell you what form (that)
help may take in the future," he said.

He said Turkish aid to Azerbaijan was continuing, "and the whole world knows
about it."

Prime Minister Suleyman Demirel reiterated that Turkey would not get
militarily involved in the conflict. Foreign policy decisions could not be 
based on street-level excitement, he said.

There was no immediate reaction in Ankara to regional reports, based on
Armenian sources in Yerevan, saying Turkish pilots and other officers were
captured when they were shot down flying Azerbaijani warplanes and 
helicopters.

The newspaper Cumhuriyet said Turkish troops were digging in along the border
with Armenia, but military sources denied reports based on claims by local
people that gunfire was heard along the border. No military action has 
occurred, the sources said.

The latest upsurge in fighting between the Armenians and Azerbaijanis flared
early this month when Armenian forces seized the town of Kelbajar and later
positioned themselves outside Fizuli, near the Iranian border.

